JOIN USFinally, the 18th annual Delhi Book Fair is here. The fair which began on September 1 at Pragati Maidan based on the theme of ‘e-books’ attracted mainly kids.
The book fair which goes till Sep 9 is playing host to 300 publishers – both regional and international including those from China, Pakistan, US, Britain, France and Germany.
With a focus on digitisation and tech-savvy children, a number of publishers are promoting ‘e-books’ along with the regular printed versions. Vishv Books, a Delhi-based publishing house who recently launched applications created for iPads and Android tablets is part of the fair.
These applications have been developed for 10 books in the children’s segment.
But why is the focus on children this time and not so much on youth? Mudit Mohini, director Vishv Books feels that, “Children haven’t developed reading as a habit. We want to encourage that. Youth on their part are interested in activities other than reading.”
“Plus, the youth genre (in books) is not established in India. We need to work on that.
The youth only reads international novels as the Indian writers are less marketed.”
There are only a few stalls selling books for the youth. One of them is Sumsac International which is selling books related to professional courses like fashion designing, architecture, graphics and jewellery etc. “We have books which students and even professionals can use like the one by ace fashion designer Ritu Kumar, called the Costumes and Textiles of Royal India. Both students and professionals can use books like these,” says Sachin Gupta, owner of Sumsac.
In today’s times when youth is addicted to laptops, iPads and smartphones and reading takes a backseat, the fair is not adding to the woes by promoting the use of iPads and phones for young children.
Explaining the theme of ‘e-books’ and justifying the idea behind such applications, Mudit adds, “It is true that nowaday kids are hooked to internet but we are trying to make books as interactive as possible. The innovation will help parents read out stories to children from Android phones. We are also mulling the addition of a new feature where the parent can record his/her voice to narrate a story.”
According to Shakti Malik, director Delhi Book Fair, “E-books have more visibility than printed versions. The app even has moving animations which are attractive for kids. A parent will never ask his/her kid to stop reading - even it is from a phone. So, this is a positive development in terms of developing reading habits.”