KARACHI: For the book lovers of the city and the province, Karachi Int’l Book Fair 2017 was inaugurated by a prestigious ceremony held inside the Expo Centre on Thursday, December 7, however, citizens were queued in huge numbers before official commencement of the fair. According to organisers, the event managed to attract around 1 million individuals on its first day.
It is noteworthy to mention here that it was 13th (Thirteenth) of its kind of international book fair held in the metropolis of Pakistan where 330 stalls were installed; while the exhibition is being participated by renowned publishers from Iran, India, Turkey, Singapore, China, Malaysia, United Kingdom (UK), United Arab Emirates (UAE) and many others countries.
Many writers, poets, social and political personalities, who attended the event, praised efforts of organisers for spreading culture of books across the Karachi. They unanimously termed the effort as milestone to rich image of the metropolis on international level. They stated that such activities should be encouraged by any organisers who mobilises all facitlies for encouraging students to develop a habit of book reading.
The event was also attended by school goers while special public attraction was seen in books translated in various languages including Urdu, Sindhi, Persian, Punjabi, Gujrati while a huge collection of books and magazines in English and Urdu were also attracted a large number of attendants.
The astonishing event is being participated by publishers along with featured exhibitors including Yds Publishing Turkey, Alston Publishing House PTE Ltd Singapore, Scholastic Education International (Singapore) PTE Ltd, Royal Society of Chemistry UK, Cambridge University Press UK, Elsevier Health India.
Sindh Minister of Information and Transport, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah inaugurated the five day Karachi International book fair held at Expo Centre by cutting the ribbon and said that improved law and order situation of metropolis eased the organizers to organize this kind of fruitful events in Karachi.
The minister praised KIBF organizers who made step forward to better soft image of Pakistan across the globe. While noticing crowd of local and international participants, Shah said successfulness of the mega book exhibition showed enhancement of book reading culture.
While addressing the ceremony, renowned writer Satyapal Anand said that the fascinating event gave message commencement of book culture. He was of the view that book cannot be called older but it always gave the readers a new message whenever it got re-read.
Former information minister and writer, Javaid Jabbar, said the book fair played a vital role to foreground importance of book reading. He said that the nation is witnessing lack of researches in different sectors.
The occasion was also addressed by renowned writers and journalists including Mehmood Sham, Qazi Asad Abid and Ovais Mirza Jameel. The event was also attended by columnist Zahid Hina, educator Anwar Ahmedzai, Mansoob Hussain Siddiqui, renowned poet Seher Ansari and a large number of authors, poets and specialists of different sectors.
