It's Boi Mela Time: Here's What To Look Out For This Year

Meet writers and poets, buy rare books, get your portrait done — there’s a lot you can do at the Kolkata Book Fair.

The Boi Mela is considered to be the world’s largest non-trade book fair with a total footfall of over two million people. This year it begins from January 31 and is on till February 11 {12 noon to 8pm every day}. The venue has changed — yes, again. This time, the fair will be held at the Central Park mela ground in SaltLake.

You can browse book from publishers across the the world, including the UK, USA, Russia, Japan, China, Colombia, Peru, Portugal, Vietnam and Spain.

France will be the theme country — a French delegation consisting of well known authors and poets led by Françoise Nyssen, the French minister of culture, are in town. Look out for the The Experience — a 400 sq.m. large exhibition presenting forty areas of creative and innovative cooperation between India and France – past, present and future. The pavilion is divided into three interlinked tents inspired by the three key words of Bonjour India: Creativity, Innovation and Partnerships. Know more about it here.

France will confer its highest order of merit, the Legion of Honour, on legendary film and theatre actor Soumitra Chattopadhyay.

The Kolkata cops have got an anti-molestation team in place this year — so reach out if you get any unwelcome attention. If you are coming with kids, you will have to fill in cards at the entry gates with details such as their names, your contact number, and relationship with the child. The card will be kept in the children’s pockets in case they get lost {which happens a lot!}. The fair will be divided into four zones and each will have two helpdesks and two watchtowers. An app will give directions and the exact route to stalls {a boon as it’s one confusing maze otherwise}. The app will also give information on events, bus transportation and vehicle parking.

The West Bengal Transport Corporation will run about 200 special buses {including special shuttle bus services} daily from 12 noon to 8pm during the book fair.

You must check out the JU {Jadavpur University} Press stall — they always have an interesting selection of books and magazines. Dey’s Publishers and Ananda {we love their Feluda comics in gorgeous watercolors — read about them here} have a good collection of Bengali books. Supernova Publishers {they are seriously awesome, check them out here} has one of the biggest stalls in the fair with books from every mainstream English publisher {we particularly love the Everyman series}. Last year, we had come across a few booksellers with a stock of old and rare books, magazines and comics. Fingers crossed, they will be around this year. Also worth checking out is the section on little magazines of Bengal — small and indie periodicals devoted to avant-garde and non-commercial literary writings. Kolkata has a prominent place in the history of little magazine movement in India.

Apart from books, the Boi Mela is popular as a place to hangout and chill, and snack on food from the many stalls {let’s hope they do a better job this year with the tonnes of plastic, non-disposable trash they produce!}. Another popular Boi Mela activity is getting your portrait done from the many artists who set up shop here. You can also pick up paintings from art students, and patuas {a folk art form from Bengal} from folk artists. This is also a good place to pick up handicrafts, stationery and canvas totes with funky messages {generally found at a few publisher stalls}.