Asia ReView

By Pramita Bose

Scotland will be the flavour of the forthcoming 33rd International Kolkata Book Fair. Come January 2009, and the mammoth Scotland Pavilion will be constructed at the heart of Milan Mela Prangan (Trade Fair Ground) developed by the West Bengal government to play host to high-profile cultural events on the city’s calendar. Peculiarly enough, with the concept of "pleasure reading at leisure" creeping into upmarket urban lifestyles, a flurry of designer bookstores, swanky reading rooms, plush libraries and cosy closets have sprang up amidst much fanfare in the past couple of years. Now stepping into the spick-n-span shopping malls, one may come across nattily done up bookshops, where walking down the aisle, the readers can unwind over a piping hot cuppa, crunchy-munchy snacks and lively chitchats besides browsing through coffee table volumes. With the ingress of such spruce one-stop destinations doling out multifarious amenities and refreshment kiosks under one umbrella, the high-end customers can lap up luxury and have a whale of a time as an added bonus. So books are no longer meant to gather dust on shelves and wear a chunky hardbound look. They can come in slick paperbacks with designer covers and funky doodles with eye-catching radiant hues. In sync with this new age biblioscape, the book fairs too leave no stone unturned to keep abreast with the changing times. The winds of flux have blown into the much-hyped impending Kolkata Book Fair too! Incidentally, the fair will be the only recognised international trade exhibition in 2009.

Apart from the Scottish kilts, tartans, bagpipes and the Celtic jewellery that fascinate the tourists world-wide, a slice of the Scottish bibliosphere will lure in droves of book lovers to the Mecca of myriad tomes. To unveil this unique event, the Lord Provost of Edinburgh will sound the gong for the inaugural session and attend discussions around Unesco Kolkata City of Literature events. Come January 27, 2009, and all roads will lead to the bibliophiles’ favourite haunt from sharp 4.30 pm onwards. On weekends, expecting a denser footfall, the fair will be catering to public from 12 noon to 8 pm. While on the weekdays, the timings will apply between 2 pm to 8 pm. Equivalent to a metropolitan city’s mayor in India, the Lord Provost is Edinburgh’s civic head — an ancient office dating back to as old as the 13th century. George D.W. Grubb is the Lord Provost since May 2007. A liberal democrat councillor of the City of Edinburgh Council, he also doubles up as an ex-officio Lord Lieutenant of Edinburgh.

"Since Scotland will be the theme country for the forthcoming fair, we thought to pull out all the stops and showcase a composite package of Scottish flair. Over a pile of 200 books is likely to be stocked at the Scottish makeshift pavilion," shares Sujata Sen, director, BCL (East India).

With a horde of distinguished authors slated to be flown in all the way from the beautiful island country, the fair ground will be dolled up with a stream of stalls, billboards, banners, decorations, dazzling lights and lilting music in the milieu to lift up the spirits for this elaborate event. Starting off with noted writer Alexander McCall Smith — an erstwhile professor of medical law and a former faculty member in universities of the United Kingdom and abroad — he would be delivering the opening lecture at the fair pulpit. Credited with the best-selling titles like No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, Scotland Street novels, Isabel Dalhousie series and the von Igelfeld collection, Smith is scheduled to read excerpts from his august body of works as well as sign autographs on purchased specimens at the bookstores. Bred up in the exotic terrain of Shetland — a group of islands in the British Isles, Christine De Luca is a well-acclaimed Scottish poetess penning her verses both in English as well as Shetlandic. Besides her four collections of poetry in print, she has also a series of published pamphlets to her merit. It’ll be an honour for the culture capital to play host to this commendable guest. Having won accolades all over, Christine will ring in her prosody in the Kolkata’s air. And the loyal, avid listeners will be all ears to tune in to her rhymes.