Book fair cultivates reading habits, organizers say

KANPUR: The city is known for industries but it has a good literary background too. Renowned literary personalities like Bal Krishna Sharma ‘Naveen’, Mahaveer Prasad Dwivedi, Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, Pratap Narayan Mishra, Gopal Das Neeraj and Atal Bihari Vajpayee were associated with this place.
The literary seeds sown by them have now turned into blooming trees.This can be proved at the book fair going on at Saryu Narayan Bal Vidyalaya Inter College.
The book fairs have also helped in developing reading habit among the youth in last fourteen years. The first book fair was held in 1998. At that time, publishers had sold books worth Rs 6 lakh. The figure had increased tenfold by 2010.
Book fair conveners Arun Prakash Agnihotri and Anil Khetan recalled that during the first book fair, only four publishers participated and that too after a long persuasion. The biggest problem was awareness among the people about the book fair. Total business was of Rs 6 lakh. An analysis revealed that maximum visitors were youth and mostly books related to competition were sold.
Another convenor Pradeep Dixit said that an analysis of last year's sale had revealed that books worth Rs. 30 lakh had been purchased. ”Women are not behind.
They have purchased books worth of Rs 13 lakh while libraries had purchased books to the tune of Rs 17 lakh.
Several young visitors told TOI on Monday they were searching books for competitions. IIT student Rashmi said she was in search of good literary books to refresh her mind.
A professor of DAV College said youth have good knowledge of language and literature.
There are comics and story books for kids. First edition of comic character Nagraj was an attraction among children. Some new arrivals and books of writers such as Kuldeep Nayar, Tasleema Nasreen, Gulzar and others are also available at the stalls.