Come one, come all: Book fair hopes to combat declining reading trend

The fair will run till Saturday from 10am to 9pm.

KARACHI: The consensus is that the trend of reading books is declining but for now, the city is abuzz with events which are promoting buying and reading books. The annual book fair at the Defence Central Library (DCL) is one of them, where people can browse through thousands of books and buy their favourite read. 

The fair, which is part of the 22nd anniversary function of the DCL, will run till Saturday from 10am to 9pm. The fair was inaugurated on Thursday by the Defence Housing Authority Administrator Brig Muhammad Abdullah.

Books covering subjects from literature, philosophy, religion, spirituality, politics, laws, marketing and children’s activity books are available at the fair. A book fair helps promote reading habits in society, said the administrator, adding that reading enriches the mind, develops one’s vision and brings a change in life.

“This society needs more interaction with books and I believe arranging book fairs is one way of doing so,” said a visitor at the fair, Abdul Wahab, who was hopeful that the books he had come for would be available at discounted prices.

“Everyone wishes to read books but no one wants to buy one,” said a bookseller, Muhammad Naeem. “People are ready to spend Rs500 on mobile phones’ credit but they don’t spend the same amount on books.”

He added that while everyone complains that people have stopped reading books, no one bothers to find out why. “Inflation is the main reason behind it.”

Shafqat Adnan, another bookseller at the fair, said that many of the booksellers have come to promote their organisation and develop new contacts. Adnan revealed that Rs8,000 were the charges for one book stall at the fair and the profit margin would only be revealed after three days. “Wish us best of luck.”

Another bookseller, Muhammad Illyas, was also of the view that the coming generations would not be interested in buying books, let alone reading them. “In my opinion, attachment with mobile phones and other gadgets has become one of the main causes of distance between books and readers.” He complained that people who can afford to buy books haggle with them over the prices even though booksellers have a small profit margin at such fairs.

The secretary of DCL, Lt-Col (retd) Rafat Hussain Naqvi, said that the aim of the event was to promote literature and such activities that can enhance reading culture in society.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2014.