National Book Fair to commence today

Activities in the fair spread a message of national harmony and solidarity

ISLAMABAD: Dubbed as the country’s largest book fair, the three-day National Book Fair 2017 is slated to commence at the Pak-China Friendship Centre today.

The eighth edition of the fair, organised by the National Book Foundation (NBF) under the supervision of the National History and Literary Heritage (NHLH) Division, will coincide with National Book Day – slated for April 22 (World Book and Copyright Day is April 23), is likely to be inaugurated by President Mamnoon Hussain. Punjab Governor Malik Muhammad Rafique Rajwana and ministers from all provinces are also likely to attend the fair.

The theme for this year’s festival is “Kitab, Zindagi, Umeeed, Roshni’ (Book is life, hope and light).

Over 100 booksellers and publishers are expected to set up stalls, with books on various disciplines showcased. Visitors at the fair will also be entitled to a 50 per cent discount while purchasing books.

The three-day fair will feature various activities such as book reading sessions, seminars on important literary topics, dialogues on fiction, prose and poetry and even a ghazal performance by overseas Pakistanis.

A number of books will also be launched during the fair, including ‘Pathar Chehrey’, ‘House of Loneliness and other stories’, Parwaz-i-Huma, ‘Riyaaz-i-Sukhan and ‘China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and Pakistani economy.’

Special programmes for children include ‘kids republic’ and a lucky draw.

NBF Managing Director Dr Inamul Haq Javed said activities in the book fair were prepared on the instructions of Advisor to Prime Minister Irfan Siddiqui, with the aim to promote book-reading culture and spread a message of national harmony and solidarity amongst the people.

Recapping last year’s fair, he said that over 100,000 book lovers had participated in the festival while books worth Rs20 million were sold.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 22^nd, 2017.