Delhi Book Fair ends, over nine lakh people visit nine day fair

New Delhi, Sep 9 (UNI) Debunking the popular belief that computers and television have led to decline in the reading habits among the children, the Delhi Book Fair, 2007 today ended with an overwhelming response which saw over nine lakh people visiting the nine day event.

Belying the notion of fall in readership level of books were the huge crowds that thronged Delhi's Pragati Maidan to buy a whole range of reading material, from children's literature, fiction, academic texts to folk tales and mythological lores.

Around 225 leading Indian publishers with 560 stalls participated in the fair this year. The major attraction of the fair was the participation of 22 foreign nationals individually.

A highlight of the fair, which was inaugurated on September one by Delhi Lt Governor Tejendra Khanna, was release of the biography of NASA astraunaut Sunita Williams. Another attraction was a painting competition organised by the Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP) for the age group of 1-14 years. The topics for the competition were Environment, Mother and Child and importance of books.

On the final day of the event, a valedictory and awards function for the best stalls was organised by the FIP wherein stalls were divided into four categories - single stall in 9 sq m, two stalls in 18 sqm, three to four stalls in 27-35 sq m and more than five stalls in more than 36 sq m respectively.

Prentice Hall of Indian ltd bagged the first prize in the fourth category while Motilal Banarsidass Publishers bagged the second prize in the same category.

UNI