Guwahati (The Stellar News),Nava Thakuria: Prestigious Guwahati Book Fair, which was canceled last year for the political unrests and subsequent Covid-19 pandemic, commences from 30 December 2020 at Assam Engineering Institute playground in the
city. State chief minister’s media adviser Hrishikesh Goswami inaugurated the book fair in presence of noted intellectual and former Governor of Tripura, Meghalaya & Arunachal Pradesh, Tathagata Roy, northeast India’s renowned litterateur Yeshe Dorjee Thongshi, along with other dignitaries. “Books are oasis of the desert as they nurture the intellectual and creative faculties of the human beings. Initiatives should continue to popularise reading habits among the children and young people,” said Goswami, who represented CM Sarbananda Sonowal in the function, while delivering his speech at the inauguration of 33rd Guwahati Book Fair, organized by Publication Board Assam.
On the occasion, the lifetime achievement award 2019 was conferred on eminent scholar Dr Thaneswar Sarma. The dignitaries on the dais also released 12 books, published by the State-run publication board, at the inaugural function. Roy in his speech termed Assamese as a sweet language and expressed hope that the bonhomie between Assamese and Bengali people would continue in future too. A resident of West Bengal who is familiar with the Assamese society, Roy observed that the National Education Policy 2020 would immensely help in highlighting the regional languages and their literature.
A resident of Arunachal Pradesh, but popular among Assamese because of his valuable creations which brought coveted Sahitya Academy Award for him, Thongshi stated about the challenges surfaced due to the pandemic. He however expressed happiness that the rapid increase of readers around the world was a positive news for the human race. A collection of books penned by another Arunachali litterateur Lumber Dai was released in the function. The publication board secretary Pramod Kalita explained objective of the meeting, the life time achievement awardee Sarma also spoke on the occasion where the function was also attended by publication board’s vice chairman Sumanta Chaliha, State education department secretary Dipak Majumder among other dignitaries.
The twelve-day book fair attracted over 100 stalls including some comprising the Bangladesh literature, Tibetan movement against Communist China, etc. The entry into the fair has been made free to encourage more participation of book lovers. A number of literary discussions are on the card and meaningful cultural shows are organized every evening in the premises to enhance the ambience.
