The Wonderland of World Book Fair, New Delhi

A whole family coming out of a fair with a bag full of not goodies, but books; students and teachers standing in the billing queue with heaps of books in their arms;  a lone reader at a book stall completely absorbed in a book, withdrawn from the hustle and bustle around;   a bubbly group of college girls twittering about the latest fictions; buses full of excited school children... Pragati Maidan was buzzing with letters, emotions and knowledge this January.

The New Delhi World Book Fair is an annual event that all book lovers look forward to.  Publishers from India and abroad plan their presence and visibility there; and authors, editors, readers, students, critics, booksellers and distributors – at least from India make it a point to visit the fair.

This year too, the WBF bloomed with events, readers and book professionals. The dipping mercury could not stop the visitors, nor could the ‘under construction’ Pragati Maidan deter their spirit. However, due to the demolition and construction going on right next to the venue, it did affect the stall sizes and to some extent, the concurrent events.

As TranslationPanacea is a service provider to publishers, the event was all the more special for us. It is gives us great pride and a feeling of achievement to see books translated by the TranslationPanacea team shining at the book stalls, and to see them picked up by readers. This year, we were happy to see our books on the shelves of 5 eminent publishers – Sage India, Yatra Books, Embassy Books, Rajpal & Sons and Manjul.  Next year, we hope to see our translations showcased by three more publishers.

Happy reading!