KARACHI: “I have died and gone to book heaven,” said a customer at the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale, a book fair of Malaysian books, which opened in Hall 5 of the Karachi Expo Centre here on Thursday.

It felt like entering a huge supermarket or warehouse full of all types of books which people were buying full loads of. And to help them carry those loads there were trolleys and shopping carts lined up near the entrance. One customer who had entered the place without stopping to take a trolley with her was seen returning to grab hold of one. “There is an abundance of books to choose from and I didn’t realise that their prices were so reasonable. I know I will be needing the trolley,” she smiled.

Another customer, Nasrullah, had brought along his family, all voracious readers, with him and one wondered how much money he was going to have to depart with. “Reading is a great hobby to have so I don’t see spending money on books as a loss. Buying books is more like gaining wealth,” he said.

There are over one million brand new English as well as Urdu books of all genres at 50 to 90 per cent discounts. The books had been categorically divided into sections. The ‘Premium zone’ had the big fat coffee-table variety. “They are slightly more expensive than the other books here but still if you compare them to other coffee-table books being sold at bookstalls, you will find these still heavily discounted,” said Myra Chua, head of marketing at Big Bad Wolf Books. One was pleasantly surprised as one came across thick and heavy volumes priced at Rs1,700 or Rs2,500.

Over one million English & Urdu books are available at the Big Bad Wolf Sale

The ‘fiction’ section was further divided into sections such as ‘General fiction’, ‘Young adult’, ‘Romance’, ‘Literature’, ‘Crime thrillers’, etc. While browsing for more, another lady, Heba Moeen, with many books already in her shopping cart, said that she was happy to find so many crime thrillers. “Well, I live in Karachi so you can imagine why I like to read crime thrillers,” she laughed.

More sections included a ‘Health/wellness’ section, a ‘Pets and nature’ section, a ‘History’ section, a ‘Children’s books’ section, a ‘Self-help books’ section, an ‘Urdu books’ section and what not. There were sample books at each section as the others were nicely wrapped in plastic to avoid damage.

Awais Akhtar Butt, director for Big Book Private Limited, and organiser of the sale in Karachi, said that he was happy to see so many people on their ‘VIP’ day. “Today we are only having VIPs whom we personally invited and they have showed up with their families. But tomorrow [Friday] we open the floodgates as the book sale will be opened for the public,” he said. The Big Bad Wolf Book Sale was earlier also held in Lahore (from April 18 to 29) and the organisers already have an idea about the huge crowds.

“Reading contributes to the growth of the mind, and is specially crucial for the development of young growing minds. Books fuel our imagination and compel us to become better thinkers. The Big Bad Wolf Book Sale brings greater accessibility to affordable books to people, and we are really happy to bring it to Karachi,” he added.

The sale, with free entrance, is known for its unique feature of being open for 24 hours, non-stop for 11 days.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2019