From classics to contemporary titles, readers cutting across age groups were busy making the most of the seventh day at the Kolkata Book Fair, adding popular books of Bengali literature to their prized collections from the Dey’s Publishing stall
Photographs by Amit DattaDev Sahitya Kutir, a publishing house founded in 1928, is one of the popular hotspots for readers of ‘bangla sahitya’ (Bengali literature). This year too, the 97-year-old publication has managed to keep its reader-base steady
An author who has been of interest among bibliophiles is Jayanta Dey, who specialises in Bengali novels and short stories. The author, who received the Bankimchandra Smriti Puraskar for Bengali Prose Fiction Literature in 2023, has his books like ‘Dashachakra’ and ‘Annapurna’ at the book fair
Divided by age, united by ‘sahitya’(literature) — two generations were captured in a single frame busy choosing books from the contemporary section of a popular book stall at the ‘Boi Mela’
The Kolkata International Book Fair is also an ideal place to know about publications dealing with books of mind-boggling genres
The 43rd edition of ‘Bhraman Sangi’, a popular travel magazine, was unveiled at the fair this time
Autobiographies and biographies are a popular read. From Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Raja Rammohun Roy to Swami Vivekananda — the lives of icons are a must every book fair. And so are books under children’s literature genre like ‘Paanch Dashaker Kishor Golpo’ and ‘ Olpo Boyos Kolpo Boyos’
Few other popular reads in Bengali from the children and young adult section are Shankha Ghosh’s ‘Chotto Ekta School’ and Balaram Basak’s ‘Bhalluker Dolna’
Journeys of the musical maestros like Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty and Shyamal Mitra have a separate fanbase
‘Gitobitan Tathyabhandar’ — a research-backed detailed work on the songs by Rabindranath Tagore and details associated to them by, put together by Purnendu Bikash Sarkar, is a must-read for Tagore lovers
Speaking of Bengali publishing houses and missing out Patra Bharati is not possible
As the day came to an end, eminent names like author Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay (third from left), musician-filmmaker Anjan Dutt (fourth from left) and Future Hope CEO Sujata Sen (extreme left) marked their presence at an event at the book fair, along with Publishers and Booksellers Guild president Tridib Chattopadhyay (fifth from left)