Kol book fair from Jan 22 to Feb 3 next yr, theme country from LatAm
Kolkata: The 49th International Kolkata Book Fair (IKBF) will be held from Jan 22 to Feb 3 next year at the Salt Lake Central Park fairground. The dates were announced on Wednesday by the Publishers and Booksellers Guild, the organiser of the book fair.
The focal theme country for IKBF 2026 will be from Latin America that has never participated in the city book fair till now. "The focal theme country for next year's Kolkata book fair will be a Latin American country that has never participated so far. Talks are on with a few more countries from Latin America, and the name of the focal theme country will be announced after confirmation," said guild president Tridib Kumar Chatterjee.
The Kolkata book fair, which now has the Salt Lake Central Park fairground as its permanent venue, has been drawing record footfall over the last few years. The 48th IKBF that was organised from Jan 28 to Feb 9 this year, had ended on a high note with close to 27 lakh footfall and nearly Rs 25 crore in book sales.
As per the schedule, next year's book fair will be inaugurated on Jan 22. It will be able to capitalise on two holidays (Netaji's birthday on Jan 23 and Republic Day on Jan 26) to draw more footfall. Guild officials said that with these two extra holidays, apart from the weekends, they expect the book fair to draw more crowds next year.
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