Lucknow: The third day of the National Book Fair at Balrampur Garden, Ashok Marg, witnessed not only elderly visitors but also large groups of youth thronging the stalls.
Being held on the theme of ‘Vande Mataram’, the fair has several new releases drawing attention. At the Setu Prakashan stall, among the new books from the last three months, the third edition of Yogendra Yadav’s ‘Ganarajya Ka Swadharm’, the Hindi translation of Mary Gabriel’s ‘Love and Capital’ based on the tumultuous life story and revolution of Karl Marx, are in discussion. New releases also include Mamta Kalia’s memoir ‘Sheshkatha’, Rajiv Kumar’s ‘Jahanara Padshahi Begum’, and Raju Sharma’s Hindi translation of Franz Kafka’s world-famous novel ‘The Trial’. At Vani Prakashan’s stall, new books include Arjun Pandey’s ‘Azad: Kahani Kranti Ke Commander Ki’, Abhay Kumar Dubey’s ‘Upniveshvad Ka Alaukik Samrajya’, Ambikadutt Sharma and Vishwanath Mishra’s ‘Anagat Gandhi’, Venktesh Devanpally’s ‘Rajadhiraj Shri Krishnadevaraya’ and under the Unmochan Granthamala series on Indian knowledge tradition, Balaram Shukla’s ‘Swatantrya Aur Samvardhan’. At Bodhras Prakashan, Animesh Tripathi’s ‘Consciousness 2.0’ on Artificial Intelligence is a new release.
On the main stage, in the evening, an event by Navonmesh saw Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak release the English edition ‘Radio Past and Present’ of Santosh Valmiki’s book ‘Radio Kal Aur Aaj’, followed by screening of his documentary ‘Radio Ka Safarnama’. In a panel discussion on ‘Media: The Question of Trust’, MLC Lalji Prasad Nirmal, Bainath Bansfor from Assam, former Deputy Director General Doordarshan Dr. Satish Grover, radio artist Rajjan Lal, Doordarshan Programme Head Atma Prakash Mishra, senior journalists Brijesh Shukla, Rama Arun, Arshana and RJ Prateek expressed their views.
An evening of ghazals organised by Sahityakar Sansad and Naman Prakashan was dedicated to Ram Prakash Bekhud, where along with him, Kripashankar Vishwas, Saralta Jamal, Badr Gorakhpuri, Rachna Mishra and Naveen Shukla Naveen recited ghazals. Earlier, on the 46th foundation day of Yuva Rachnakar Manch, writer Rajendra Verma was honoured with the Mukut Bihari Saroj Samman in the presence of Mridul Sharma, Danda Lakhnavi, Sunil Kumar Bajpai and Naveen Awara. Earlier in the morning, eight books including Dr. Rashmi Srivastava’s ‘Postbox’ were released under the chairmanship of Prof. Surendra Vikram, followed by the launch of Jai Prakash Agarwal’s English book ‘Internal Teacher’ coordinated by Arthur’s Adda.
On the second stage, apart from book launches, a Kavi Sammelan was held under Sathitya Sabha.
The fair, with free entry, is open daily from 11 am to 9 pm, with at least 10 per cent discount on every book purchased.
The book fair, organised by Force One, has associate organisations including UP Metro, Radio City, Origins, Kiran Foundation, Join Hands Foundation, Lokangan, Vishwam Foundation, Vijay Studio, Golden Grass and Kavita Kisse Kahaniyan.
