For the love of books: Lahore International Book Fair kicks off
The five-day fair offers countless books with dozens of famous publishing houses participating this year. Photo: Aroosa Shaukat
The 32nd edition of the Lahore International Book Fair (LIBF) has kicked off at the Expo Centre on Thursday attracting large crowds on the first day.
The five-day fair in Lahore offers countless books with dozens of famous publishing houses participating this year.
Like each year, this time too, the fair offers discounts on various stalls. With a wide range of topics catering all age groups, the book fair has some unique stalls offering not just the latest titles but even some of the oldest.
Rare and old books of first and second editions were on display. Photo: Maleeha Mengal
A special storytelling corner has also been set up for children in the fair.
Books being offered range from educational material, religious, fiction, biographies, children books, comics and many more.
The most prominent stalls in this year’s fair are those of by National Book Foundation, Oxford University Press, Pearson Education, Cambridge Press, John Wiley and Sons from USA, Jones and Bartlett Learning, Ferozsons, Readings, Springer Nature India, Wiley and many more.
Punjab Minister for School Education Rana Mashhood inaugurated the LIBF and spoke about the importance of book fairs saying that such events help promote book-reading culture.
Speaking to Dunyanews.tv, Saad Saleem, social media coordinator at the LIBF said that this year the fair was being attended by 30 foreign publishers, mostly from USA, UK and India.
“This year we have 262 stalls,” he said “we had to cut short 10 to 15 stalls because the passages were left very narrow and we needed to make it a little more spacious for our visitors.”
The five day book fair is offering a wide range of books for all ages. Photo: Aroosa Shaukat
Ferozsons sales representative, Sajjad Ali Khan explained that this year the publishers have 300 titles on display on various subjects.
“We have been participating in this book fair ever since it started. I am proud of the positive feedback we receive every year, and that makes us come back each year.”
“This year, we have offered discounts ranging from 15 to 50 percent on different books.”
The Siddiqui Rare and Antique Books stall featured centuries-old books with first and second book editions of many famous authors such as Mark Twain, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Boris Pasternak, Graham Greene, T.S Eliot, D.H Lawrence, George Orwell and many more.
Oldest books collection were on display at Siddiqui rare and Antique Books stall. Photo: Aroosa Shaukat
“All the books at display here are either first edition or second editions,” said Haroon Siddiqui, who was displaying the rare collection at the stall. “They are all signed by the authors....these are very rare books”, Siddiqui said.
On display was a 15th century book written in Latin by an unknown author. “These books are well preserved due to the quality of paper that was made during those times,” said Siddiqui while speaking about how such books are preserved.
Mr. Siddiqui showing one of the oldest atlas. Photo: Aroosa Shaukat
Bookgroup offered children’s books in Urdu with interesting titles ranging from ‘Khatta Bakra’, ‘Naadir Bundar Aur Taimoor’ and the Biloongra series. The titles not only attracted the young but also the adults.
Speaking to dunyanews.tv, M.Farhan Yousaf, sales representative of Bookgroup said the aim of the organisation was to enhance book reading among children of different age groups.
With attractive illustrations and colourful covers, the books covered various topics including history, modern content and moral stories.
“We have child-friendly books with titles that children can relate to, including books on lizards and mosquitoes,” he said. The titles ‘Chipkali’ and ‘Eik Machhar ki Kahani’ were some of the ones he referred to.
Yousaf said these stories were also available in animated cds with narrations for a price ranging from Rs. 100 to Rs. 300.
Bookgroup has a wide range of stories on display at LIBF for children with colourful pictures. Photo: Aroosa Shaukat
“We have 245 book titles so far which are for different age groups”, Yousaf said adding that these books were offered in various regional languages.
Bookgroup has also introduced a new book, ‘Ajnabi Dost Naheen’ (Strangers are not friends), which aims to educate children through storytelling that strangers are not friends. The publishers say with the ongoing controversies surrounding child abuse, they aimed to generate greater awareness among children about the subject through simple stories that parents could read them out.
Founded in 1990 the Bookgroup is a non-profit organisation, which aims to initiate and reform education through storytelling in Pakistan.
Readings stall offered discounts ranging from 15 to 50 percent on more than 80, 000 book titles in 70 categories.
“In the coming 3 days, we are expecting more people who will visit and participate in the book fair, since it will be a long weekend. We have 33 stalls here and most of the books we have are latest titles,” said their marketing representative.
Book exhibitors are hopeful that the coming long weekend will draw large crowds to the fair.
The book fair will continue till February 5th at the Expo Centre.
