Mumbai hosted its own book fair.
Organised by Spandan Foundation, the Mumbai Book Fair 2013 began on Saturday at Hiranandani Foundation School Ground in Powai. The fair will be on till April 21 from 2pm to 10pm.
The plan is to turn the book fair into an annual event. The Mumbai Book Fair has 35 eminent publishers and booksellers such as Amar Chitra Katha, Jaico, Rupa, Navneet, Ananda, India Book Distributors, Crossword, and Faber Castell displaying more than 300,000 books encompassing a wide range of literary tastes.
A research and development executive by day, and president of the Spandan Foundation by night, Biswajit Deb is a working professional with a passion for art and culture. “It is a non-profit organisation formed by like-minded people, who believe in creating socio-cultural awareness about different forms of art. It is sad to see children these days who are hooked to gadgets and TV. The initiative is a ray of hope for our future generation to inculcate the habit of reading books among them,” says Deb.
Writers, theatre and cinema personalities, lyricists, and folk artistes are likely to visit the book fair. There are several panel discussions centred on literature and education. Participants and guests include the Who’s Who of India’s literary, artistic and corporate firmament such as Amish Tripathi, Ashwin Sanghi, Prahlad Kakkar, Rashmi Bansal, Dolly Thakur and Rituparna Sengupta.
The fair has a special Kids Zone where workshops will be conducted for children.
Cultural events have been scheduled every evening for the visitors. These include traditional dance forms such as Bihu and Chou, solo instrumental performances like the violin recital by Sunita Bhuyan, jugal bandis, and open mike performances.
One of India’s popular musical bands — Indian Ocean — will also perform at the event.
Daytime events will include quiz contests with inter-college, inter-school and corporate participants, painting competitions, art & crafts and robotics workshop for children. There is also an open mic area where local and amateur performers would be welcome to display their talents.
Source: http://www.dnaindia.com
