A treat for all book lovers

Delhi’s favourite lit fest, ‘Spring Fever’ is back, and this year, it’s bigger, better and more fun than ever before!

Penguin India is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and the best way to celebrate this is by sharing the joy of reading with book lovers from across the capital.

One can browse through Penguin’s remarkable range of books at the newly open-air library at ‘Spring Fever 2012’, and pick up copies of 25 extremely popular Penguin books. A fabulous new range of collectibles and merchandise is up for grabs as well.
Hemali Sodhi, the marketing vice-president at Penguin India, said that the open-air library is an amazing concept which will definitely attract book lovers.

“The open air library is the first such concept ever to be introduced by any publishing house in India. Book lovers can visit the venue during the festival timings and read any book of their interest at no cost. The open-air library features a complete range of Penguin India books, from fiction and non-fiction titles first published over a decade ago to the latest bestsellers and books that are creating news today. With a spacious layout in a quiet corner away from the bustle of crowds, the open-air library is sure to be a browser’s paradise.”

The fest will also showcase an exclusive range of quirky merchandise at the ‘World Book Fair’. The range includes notebooks, bags, mugs, key-chains, luggage tags and much more, all named after some favourite Penguin titles.

Hemali also added, “Spring Fever’ is the biggest and the only 10-day literature festival to be held in Delhi. It has a unique flavour because of the open-air library, book-readings by the best Penguin authors, live music and art performances. This is a festival that Delhi loves and it will be travelling across other metros this year.”

On the opening evening, March 16, one can listen to Vikram Seth read from his new book, ‘The Rivered Earth’. On March 17, model and actor Yana Gupta will speak about her book ‘How to Love Your Body and Get the Body You Love’. March 18 will feature Anupam Kher on his work ‘The Best Thing about You — Is You’. On March 19, three key commentators and analysts — Devdutt Pattanaik, Rama Bijapurkar and V Raghunathan — will discuss the topic ‘ The New Indian Consumer’ in the session ‘Ganesha on the Dashboard’.

 On March 20, there’s a fun-filled movie quiz titled ‘Mind It!—Indian Cinema Turns 100’, with a special round on the ultimate superstar Rajnikanth and loads of audience questions, prizes and music. On March 21, book-lovers will be treated to three outstanding new literary talents — Rahul Bhattacharya, Anjum Hasan and Anjan Sundaram — in the session ‘The Stories Within My Head’.

On March 22, there is a session called ‘The Great Indian Story’, with previews of three eagerly anticipated non-fiction works by Amit Chaudhuri, Gurcharan Das and Shashi Tharoor. On March 23, four young writers — Madhuri Banerjee, Nistula Hebbar, Chanchaldeep Singh and Ravinder Singh — will discuss sex outside the bedroom in ‘Kiss and Tell’.

On March 24, Penguin will hunt for new literary talent in the open-session ‘Delhi’s Got Talent’, with bestselling author Ravinder Singh and the Penguin editorial team as judges. ‘Spring Fever 2012’ closes on March 25 with a wonderful poetry-recital by Gulzar and Pavan K Varma called ‘Lamhon Par Baithi Nazmein — Poems Perched on a Moment’, followed by a scintillating qawwali performance.