KARACHI: It was the 12th annual book mela, some senior writers visited on Sunday night at Ancholi, F.B. Area.
With the sighting of the holy Ramazan moon, it had been customary with the publishers — Fareed publishers for the last twelve years to declare the opening of book mela at a spacious marriage hall, hired for the purpose, and carry it on till the last evening of the holy month. The cool and quiet night, with no noisy traffic around, provided ample chance for the housewives and school girls in the residential area and many others to visit the mela and find the book of their choice from a wide variety of collections and have an easy price.
The writers, after going around the stalls, sat at a cosy corner to discuss the problems faced by booksellers, writers and publishers in the promotion of books.
Critic and the editor of monthly Afkar presided over the deliberations. The opening remarks came from Prof Saher Ansari. Prof Ali Haider Malik did the compering. Among those, who gave their comments on the prevailing conditions in the book industry with particular reference to the local market, included Rehana Roohi, poet and columnist Arif Shafeed, Yaaver Aman, A. Khayyam Mahmood Wajid, editor of a quarterly Saba Ikram and some others. Social activist Al-Haj Shamimuddin suggested that the writers themselves should take the initiative and form a book club. He said that with modest contribution and distribution of books among their own fraternity, writers could bring a visible change. He offered an all out support and enrolment of a good number of members for the proposed club. This idea was supported by Dr Hanif Fauq and many others.
At the outset, Ms Roohi complained of the faulty slow and lethargic distribution system, due to which there existed a wide gap between writers and readers.
Prof Ansari, who had recently visited London to attend a literary moot, said that publishers should now change their emphasis and publish more booklets and thin volumes on the current socio-political issues.
Referring to the recent speech by the retiring Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohammad that shook the entire West, Prof Ansari said that Mr Mahathir’s comments and speeches would be most welcome at book-stalls. The cost of books should also be reduced, he said. However, he added that the practice among some publishers to reprint old publications and classics at exorbitant prices was most lamentable, which should be discouraged.
The publishers presented their own problems as briefly explained by Mr Fareed. He said that they were ready to hold book meals quite frequently and in different city corners but the attitude of the officials was discouraging in this regard. “They (the publishers) don’t find any support and encouragement from the educational institutions,” he said. Mr Fareed quoted the example of the University of Karachi, where authorities often ignore to invite the city publishers in their book festivals. As against this, he claimed that he found the officials at other publication centres (i.e. in Lahore, Multan and other cities) to be more earing and sympathetic towards the booksellers and publishers.
In his concluding speech, Dr Hanif Fauq felt that the city of Karachi, a hub of industrial and commercial activities was, as it appeared least interested in books. To him, the overall attitude of the people seemed “anti-cultural”, but the writers and the publisher had to do their best for their own survival, he asserted.—HA
