National book fair in Kashmir attracts book lovers

Book worms in the Valley are in for a treat as authorities have organized a national book fair that is currently attracting thousands of people in the 'Kashmir Haat' ground in Srinagar.

The biggest national book fair has been organized by the National Book Trust (NBT) in collaboration with Jammu and Kashmir Academy for Art, Culture and Languages, Federation of Publishers and Booksellers Associations in India, National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) and District Administration Srinagar.

Book fair organizer, Vijender Kumar said, "Our aim behind organizing this book fair is to connect people with books. The entry is free here as we want more and more people to come here. Apart from the books of NBT, there are more than 90 publishers here."

The fair-cum-exhibition began on August 23 and will conclude at the end of this month.

"The kids learn everything through T.V these days. They have no idea how book stalls are in real life. Here they have books on every topic. This has been very well organized," said Zahoor Ahmad, a teacher.

Book lovers from all districts of the Valley have been thronging the fair since the first day and almost every reader was seen purchasing books according to their need.

In the exhibition-cum-sale of books by publishers and booksellers from various parts of the country, a 10 percent discount was also given to the buyers on every book.