Only few days are left before the inauguration of the 47th International Kolkata Book Fair. The fair will be inaugurated on 18 January 2024 at 4pm at the Boimela Prangan, Salt Lake, by our Hon’ble Chief Minister Smt. Mamata Banerjee, in presence of Mr Alex Ellis CMG, British High Commissioner to India, Ms Alison Barrett MBE, Director, British Council, India, Smt Bani Basu, eminent author along with other authors, dignitaries and Hon’ble Ministers of our state.
The following are the highlights of this year’s International Kolkata Book Fair:
- There will be around 1000 stalls and Little Magazines. This year we have allotted stalls to many more small publishers at the Book Fair.
- Senior Citizen’s Day, ‘Chiro Tarun’ will be celebrated on 24 January. An interactive session between a senior author, senior publisher and a senior reader namely, Abul Basar, Debajyoti Datta and Saswati Adhikari, will be organised on that day.
- There will be nine entry and exit gates in the IKBF 2024 for the easy movement of the visitors. One of the gates will be the replica of London Tower Bridge. Another Gate will be replica of Bethune School, commemorating its 175th foundation year. Among the other gates, there will be Biswa Bangla Gate and two gates will be named after Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay and Federico García Lorca commemorating their 125th birth year.
- Big two halls of the Book Fair having mainly the English publications have been named after Samares Mazumdar and A.S. Byatt, who breathed their last in 2023. The Little Magazine Pavilions will be named after Sandip Dutta, who also left us last year. Also there will be a HDFC Ergo Press Corner and two Mukta mancha(Open stage) named after Nirendranath Chakraborty and Samaresh Basu, commemorating their birth centenary year. The Children’s Pavilion will be based on the characters of Pandab Goenda in memory of Sashtipada Chattopadhyay.
- The Transport Department, Government of West Bengal will provide additional bus services. There will be a special Metro from Sealdah and the service will also be there on the holidays. With the help of Bidhannagar Police, the auto fare will also be fixed for the Book Fair.
- A special medical assistance service with ambulance by Peerless Hospitex Hospital And Research Centre Limited,- the Health Partner of IKBF 2024.
- International Kolkata Book Fair 2024 android app to locate any stall in the fair, created by CESC will be available.
- Meghbela Broadband will be the Exclusive Broadband Partner of Book Fair 2024.
- Our hospitality partner – Novotel hotels and residencies, will provide hospitality to our Guests coming from abroad.
- Around 20 Countries across the globe will participate at the International Kolkata Book Fair 2024.
- We are indebted to CESC for their all-out cooperation. There will be a well decorated CESC Corner for eminent guests of Book Fair. The daily lottery will be held from there, where CESC will distribute a Book Gift Coupon worth Rs 15,000/- per day to the lucky winners.
“Buy books and win a Book Library” – As a commitment to the society, Guild’s initiative to disseminate the opportunity to more and more book lovers. The ‘Book Bumper Library lottery’ will be organised and the winners will win a Book Gift Coupon of Rs 25,000/- each.
Dr Rama Prasad Goenka CESC Sristi Samman 2024′ will be awarded to Smt Bani Basu.
We are deeply indebted to State Bank of India – our official Banker for providing full banking facilities, ATM and E-services in the Fair Ground.
We are also indebted to ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company – our Official Insurer.
We also acknowledge great support from the National Jute Board as our Green partner.
IKBF 2024 will have a virtual live presence through the website and social media pages of the Book Fair. Those who are staying abroad, they can enjoy Book Fair’s programs online. Our exclusive digital partner is Sister Nivedita University.
For the first time, a special digital ground map with the participant list of the IKBF 2024 will be available just by scanning QR Code at all the entry points of the Book Fair.
The major attraction of the International Kolkata Book Fair that we all look forward to, will be the 10th edition of the Kolkata Literature Festival which will be held for 3 days inside the SBI auditorium, from 26 to 28 January 2024.
Heartiest best wishes and regards to all of you.
✍️Sudhangshu Sekhar Dey
Tridib Kr Chatterjee
Hony. General Secretary