Visitors at the book fair on exhibition ground in bhubaneswar. picture by ashwinee Patipratyush Patra

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 2: Bhubaneswar Book Fair that turned 30 this year began on Wednesday on the Exhibition Ground.

The oldest book fair of the city is drawing a number of bibliophiles and this time there are around 325 kiosks.

The eleven-day fair has brought an expansive range of fiction and non-fiction books. Though English and Hindi tomes are available in huge numbers, Odia books have taken the lion’s share.

Apart from contemporary novels and classics, books on mythology, astrology, religion, medicine and engineering can be found on the shelves. Even colouring books for toddlers and educational CDs are attracting the visitors.

Though the publishers have high hopes from the fair in terms of sales, they agree that youngsters today prefer ordering tomes online.

“Last year, too, the sales were satisfactory and this year it is gradually picking up. Youngsters, who generally love novels, like to get them from various websites. The footfall in book fairs is declining because of this unhealthy trend. Youngsters must visit book fairs just to see the range of books across genres,” said M. Rahman, a salesman at the kiosk of Calcutta-based Modern Book House.

To celebrate the 30 years of existence, the organisers have released a book titled Pustak Mela Itihas that talks about the origin and journey of the fair.

“We are proud to have been organising the fair for so long. We just hope that the fair continues to give the readers of Bhubaneswar a reason to be happy,” said Ashok Mohanty, member of the organising team.

He also expressed his joy about how big the fair has gone over the years. “When we began, we used to release 100 new books, but today 5,000 brand new books can be found here,” he added.