Worm your way around 330 stalls at this year’s book fair

140 national and 13 international publishers displayed their books

KARACHI: The wait is over for book lovers in Karachi as the annual book fair has kicked off with over 330 stalls at Karachi Expo Centre on Thursday.

The five-day fair features 140 national publishers along with 13 international exhibitors from eight countries. The 11th Karachi International Book Fair (KIBF) has been organised by The Pakistan Publishers and Booksellers Association in collaboration with the National Book Foundation.



Events such as book fairs and seminars relating to education connect us to the world and give us a positive identity, said leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, at the inauguration ceremony on Thursday.

Shah felt that such fairs should also be organised in Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana, Nawabshah and Mirpurkhas. "Seeing the people of Karachi's interest in books and literature makes me hopeful for the future of the country," he said. He lauded the organisers of the event and said it is impressive that the KIBF has been successfully organising this book fair for years without any government support.

Education

Shah accepted that the various governments in Pakistan have not paid attention to the education sector. There has been no stability in Pakistan's system, which has caused terrorism and low literacy rates, Shah reasoned.



He also urged the youth of Pakistan to work hard and develop the habit of reading. "The Sindh government and the federal government should allocate [an adequate] budget to establish libraries for children," Shah suggested.

Hosting the inauguration ceremony, Youth Parliament chairperson Rizwan Jaffar said the organisers are expecting to see a large number of people this year. He also termed the book fair an "annual cultural phenomenon" for the people of Karachi.

Turkish consul-general Murat Mustafa Onart said the relations between Pakistan and Turkey are very strong. "The bond is strong because of the love the people of Turkey and Pakistan share, not because of the economic and strategic relations," he claimed.



KIBF managing committee convener Owais Mirza Jamil, while speaking at the inauguration ceremony, said the people of Karachi are literature lovers and it is only because of them that the KIBF is a successful annual event. "We are expecting to see Turkish publishers and book sellers next year," he said. Next year's KIBF will be held from December 15 to 19, 2016, Jamil announced.

The chairperson of the Urdu Academy Sindh central committee, Aziz Khalid, said when the first ever KIBF was held, they had only one hall but now the book fair is arranged in three halls. This shows the love people have for books, he said, adding that eleven years of organising this event have passed successfully.

"We have celebrated the value of books and contributed, in our own way, towards providing a better and positive image of Pakistan," he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2015.