KARACHI: More than 100 national and 18 international exhibitors will take part in the 10th Karachi International Book Fair (KIBF) which will be held at the Expo Centre from Dec 18 to Dec 22.

This was announced by KIBF convener Owais Mirza Jamil at a press conference in a hotel here on Tuesday.

It was thoughtful of Mr Jamil and Aziz Khalid to begin proceedings of the press conference by mentioning the heart-wrenching incident that had taken place in Peshawar in which more than 120 innocent children lost their lives. Fateha was offered for the departed souls.

Mr Jamil said the organisers began the fair in 2005 in an effort to provide the children or the young readers with the platform to develop reading habits and therefore contribute to the progress of the country. He claimed that with each passing year, the fair was getting bigger and better. Every year, people remembered December so that they could visit the fair and benefit from it. Children saved their pocket money and Eidi to buy books at the KIBF.

Mr Jamil said publishers and booksellers made sure that readers got books at a discounted price at the fair. Some of them brought down the rates between 70 and 80 per cent less than the actual prices, while 25 per cent concessional price was almost ensured. He informed the media that this year there would be 330 stalls set up in three halls of the Expo Centre — Halls 1, 2, 3 — whereas in its initial year the fair had only 100 stalls. Apart from the 110 national exhibitors, 18 international exhibitors would also be taking part in the 2014 event representing countries such as Iran, Singapore, India, the US, Britain and the UAE. Last year, he said, 400,000 visitors came to the expo centre and this year 450,000 were expected. Book launches, seminars and a humorous mushaira were also on this year’s programme list.

Chairman of the KIBF central committee Aziz Khalid said while the fair would open on Dec 18, its formal inauguration would take place on Dec 19. Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Khurshid Shah would do the honours. The decision to put off the inauguration day was taken due to the strike call given by PTI chief Imran Khan. Replying to a question about the prices of paper, he said after the 18th amendment education had become a provincial subject, but when the issue of duty was taken up with the authorities concerned, they said it was to do with the central government.

In response to another question, Mr Khalid said the National Book Trust of India published any book on any subject that other publishers refused to print. The trust, after a gap of three years, would partake in this year’s book fair, which is organised by the Pakistan Publishers and Booksellers Association in collaboration with the National Book Foundation of Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2014