Kolkata Book Fair 2012

Organized by the Publishers & Booksellers Guild, the 35th edition of the International Kolkata Book Fair 2011 was successfully held from January 26 to February 6, 2011. This year’s fair was not only international but also carried an important historical significance. This was because on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of the Nobel Laureate immortal poet Rabindranath Tagore to whose memory the Fair had been dedicated, there was no entry fee of the visitors. Each and every booklover visiting the fair was gifted a pocket calendar with a photograph of Rabindranath Tagore as a memento. Over 1.6 million booklovers gathered in this 12 days book festival and the books worth Rs 16 crore were sold at the fair. Noted Pulitzer Award winning writer Richard Ford of USA inaugurated the fair. The Hon’ble chief minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was the chief guest while the guest of honour was the noted author Atin Bandyopadhyay and the special guest was the ambassador of USA to India, Timothy J Roemer.