KARACHI: The 14th Karachi International Book Fair (KIBF), organised by the Pakistan Publishers and Booksellers Association, will be held at Expo Centre from Dec 21 to Dec 25, announced PPBA chairman Aziz Khalid at a press conference on Wednesday.

Mr Khalid said the fair would be inaugurated on Friday by provincial Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah. He profusely thanked the media for lending a helping hand to the event since it began in 2005. At the time (2005), Pakistan’s image in the world was not that bright because bomb explosions happened on a regular basis. So the organisers wanted to project a soft image of the country.

Apart from letting the world know that Pakistan was a country of readers, the fair also meant to do something constructive for Pakistan’s booksellers and publishers. They are now able to display their books in the event. Then there’s the advantage for readers to get their hands on international books as well as those books that are published in regional languages of Pakistan.

Besides Pakistan, 40 exhibitors from more than a dozen countries will be represented

KIBF convener Owais Mirza Jamil said the inauguration would take place in the afternoon (though the event will begin at 10am daily and is open to public). Like previous years, a decent number of distributors are taking part in it. This year there are 330 stalls (in halls 1, 2, 3), and besides Pakistan 40 exhibitors from more than a dozen countries will be represented. They include the United Kingdom, Malaysia, the United States, Turkey, China, Singa­pore, India, Germany and New Zealand, among others. In all, there are 40 (international) exhibitors in the form of representatives or nominations. From Pakistan the number of participants is 110. The books are offered at a discount for readers, which is an added bonus of the fair. He claimed that the event receives 500,000 visitors in five days.

Mr Mirza put emphasis on the fact that every year children come to the fair in a large number. They start thronging the venue from the morning. This was a dream that has come true, because 14 years ago to get children’s attention to reading books was one of the goals of the organisers. The young ones read all kinds of books, he said.

Ejaz Shah was the last speaker of the press conference. He shed light on the business development side of the KIBF.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2018