KARACHI: The 13th Karachi International Book Fair organised by the Pakistan Publishers and Booksellers Association (PPBSA) in collaboration with the National Book Foundation will begin on Dec 7 and close on Dec 11 at the Expo Centre. This was announced at a press conference held at a local hotel on Tuesday.

Addressing the media, chairman of the PPBA Aziz Khalid said the association had been organising the event since 2005. In the beginning it had sought help from the media to arrange a book fair of international standard in the country. Its resources were limited but the idea was to promote book [reading] culture in Pakistan and to project a soft image in the rest of the world. The aim was also to promote the culture of education.

Mr Khalid said like every year the response from local and international exhibitors was good. International publishing houses would come to the event, and even those who could not come would send their books. Reiterating the objective, he said it was to provide our students and general readers the kinds of book that they wanted to read. He thanked booksellers from different parts of the country such as Lahore, Multan, Peshawar and Quetta for regularly taking part in the fair.

Adviser on business development to KIBF Ejaz Shah informed the journalists about his visit to three international book fairs and what he had learnt from them. He also talked about the possibility of having a working relationship with those fairs.

KIBF convener Owais Mirza Jamil said 13 years ago the fair had begun on a smaller scale in just one hall and there were hardly 80 stalls, but it

was an important step that the organisers had taken. Today, the event was being marketed internationally. The results had been very good, so much so that those who ran international book fairs wished to take part in the KIBF.

Giving details of the 13th edition of the Karachi fair, Mr Jamil said it would run from Dec 7 to Dec 11. The public could visit it from 10am to 9pm. The opening was on Dec 7 (Thursday) morning. The inauguration would be done by provincial minister for information Nasir Hussain Shah. This year there were 330 stalls, and exhibitors from countries such as Turkey, Iran, India, Malaysia, France, the UK, China and Singapore would exhibit their books. Other countries would also be represented in the KIBF.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2017