Reciting the works of Jibanananda Das and Sukumar Ray, actor Soumitra Chatterjee enthralled the audience at the 18th Sutanuti Festival in Sovabazar Natmandir. The seven-day festival was organised by Sutanuti Parishad. Picture by Rashbehari Das

Varnaparichay, the book mall under construction on College Street, has set the ball rolling to attract booksellers and publishers.

Though the site is currently swamped in sand, cement and iron rods, Bengal Shelter Housing Development, the developers of the mall, is organising Sarod Boi Parbon, a 10-day book fair from September 11.

“The Boi Parbon is like a prelude to the permanent book mart, which will come up next year. It will give us a chance to gauge the demand for Varnaparichay. It will also give publishers a taste of the kind of clientele and footfall they can expect at Varnaparichay. Bangladesh is our partner country. We are expecting a few publishers from there,” said Samar Nag, the managing director of Bengal Shelter.

During Calcutta Book Fair 2009, Bengal Shelter had received around 350 “letters of interest” from publishers, booksellers and little magazines to set up stalls at the mall.

“Once booking starts, we will allot stalls on a first-come-first-served basis,” said Nag.

A 3,50,000sq ft area has been earmarked for book stores at the Varnaparichay building, which will also accommodate shop-owners and vendors of the erstwhile College Street Market. There will be about 400 book stalls of various sizes.

“This is perhaps a soft launch for the book mart. As a publisher, we will able to test the waters. We will also get to see how books survive in the Puja market, which is largely dominated by clothes and accessories,” said Subir Mitra, the managing director of Ananda Publishers, which will participate in Boi Parbon.

Of the 156 publishers who will take part in Boi Parbon are Dey’s Publishing, Mitra & Ghosh, Punashcha, Oxford University Press and Shishu Sahitya Samsad.

Varnaparichay, being constructed on College Street, will host a 10-day Boi Parbon from September 11. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

The book display will be held on the first and second floors of Block A of Varnaparichay, covering an area of 60,000sq ft.

The Bengal Shelter authorities plan to turn Boi Parbon into an annual affair, held before Puja. “It will be a celebration of the literature published during Durga puja,” said Nag.

The debut chapter marks the launch of Kolkatar Album, brought out by Punashcha in association with Bengal Shelter.

The book traces the monuments of Calcutta and their history.

While books will remain the high point of the event, the fair organisers have spared a thought for food too. A makeshift food court will house Indian Coffee House and Nizam’s along with other eateries.

A separate area will be earmarked out as an adda zone, where readers can enjoy interactive sessions with the authors. Writers likely to attend the fair include Sunil Gangopadhyay, Shankha Ghosh and Mahasweta Devi.