Guwahati Book Fair – 30 December 2020 to 10 January 2021

Pandemic-hit Assamese book publishers look at the bright side

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The 33rd Guwahati Book Fair from 30 December 2020 to 10 January 2021|Book industry ups and downs
The 33rd Guwahati Book Fair from 30 December 2020 to 10 January 2021

It was an intriguing discussion at a special session of the prestigious 33rd Guwahati Book Fair. Many book publishers, writers, journalists, and conscientious readers assembled to introspect the various challenges faced by the book and periodical publishing industry during the Covid-19 induced national lockdown in India. They also evoked some of the new possibilities in the coming post-corona era.

The participants were unanimous – the pandemic had severely affected the publication industry, including the printed newspapers. Still, at the same time, it helped to increase the number of committed readers among the new generation. They also said that the process of publication and marketing of Assamese books reemerged with new approaches to the technology-driven profession in the interest of valued readers.

Inaugurating the session, Assam based senior publisher Nabin Baruah thoroughly described the hardship faced by the publication houses as the corona-pandemic hit the country in early March. However, he said that the disaster helped everyone redefine their lives in a tricky and isolated ambiance. Many regained their reading habit, and as many others join the legion of committed readers irrespective of the ink on paper books or digital platforms, he said.

Several young publishers addressed the session, including Pritima Kaushik Barua, Manish Hazarika, Dhiraj Lahkar, Amrit Upadhaya, Farhan Javed, Buljit Buragohain along with award-winning Assamese author Bipul Deuri. They observed that various modern technological tools for publication, promotion, and marketing would finally bring a better deal for quality publishers worldwide.

Assamese – an internet-savvy language and culture

Participating in the discussion, literary magazine editor Mihir Deuri, senior journalist Dixit Sarma, prolific writers Geetali Borah, Nabajyoti Pathak, Rupam Dutta, Jintu Thakuria, and Nripen Dutta expressed concern over the shrinkage of readers in various regional languages across India. But they asserted with confidence that it’s time to promote Assamese as an internet-savvy language and reach out to millions of potential readers living in the diaspora.

As a moderator, I also drew attention to the severe crisis in front of the print media. Many, if not most, readers are still evading the distribution of newspapers inside their homes. First, it was the rumor that newspapers carry the corona-virus, which discouraged senior citizens from reading their favorite dailies. Then most of the newsy content became available on digital platforms on the previous day itself. Editors may have to change their approach to news for the survival of newspapers, was my observation.

The ongoing Guwahati Granthamela from 30 December 2020 to 10 January 2021 has attracted thousands of book lovers each day with its more than 125 stands. The entry to the fair was made free by the organizer, Asom Prakasan Parisad. The state-run publication board had to postpone the book fair because of political unrest in 2019 and the pandemic in early 2020. Several literary discussions, book release events, and spectacular cultural evenings evoked a heady ambiance.

Formally inaugurated by the Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal’s media adviser Hrishikesh Goswami in the presence of noted intellectual Tathagata Roy, renowned litterateur Yeshe Dorjee Thongshi and other dignitaries, the book fair brought some of the desired relief to publishers and delight to the bookworms.

The festival venue at the Assam Engineering Institute playground in the Chandmari locality of the city maintained the necessary health protocols related to the Covid-19 pandemic. While representing CM Sonowal at the function, Goswami conveyed his goodwill to everyone, commenting that books are the oases in the desert that nurture human beings’ intellectual and creative capacities.

Lifetime achievement award to Dr Thaneswar Sarma

He also conferred the Prakasan Parisad’s lifetime achievement award for 2019, carrying a citation and Rs. 2 lakh check to eminent Assamese scholar Dr Thaneswar Sarma in the presence of the assembled dignitaries. The former Governor of Tripura, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh, Roy, in his speech, termed Assamese a sweet language and expressed the hope that the bonhomie between Assamese and Bengali culture and readers would continue in the future too. A resident of West Bengal but familiar with Assamese society, the outspoken author observed that the National Education Policy 2020 should help immensely in highlighting the regional languages and their literature.

Padmashri Thongshi, a resident of neighboring Arunachal Pradesh, described various challenges that surfaced due to the pandemic. The Sahitya Academy awardee cited the increase of quality readers worldwide as a positive note. Thongshi expressed happiness that a collection of literary pieces, including novels, short stories, and folk tales written in both Assamese and English by Arunachali author Lumber Dai were released at the function.

A stall dedicated to Bangladesh literature and another showcasing Tibetan culture added colors to the book fair. The freedom movement led by exile Tibetans against the Communist regime in Beijing also comes alive in the stall, opened by Tibetan support group leader RK Khrimey and managed by Buddha enthusiast Soumyadeep Datta. Its highlights included the message of Tibet being India’s real neighbor rather than China and the Brahmaputra river’s potential devastation by Beijing’s environmental intervention in the mineral-rich land.

Amongst the books on display and sale, the creative pieces penned by young writers received satisfactory responses from the visitors at Granthamela. Some reprinted Assamese books by Prakasan Parisad also enjoyed visible interest. Two important translated works related to Prime Minister Narendra Modi sold in large numbers. The Assamese version of Modi’s letters to his mother titled ‘Aailoi Chithi’ and the translations of the PM’s weekly radio program titled ‘Man Ki Baat’ as ‘Mor Priya Deshbasi’ drew the attention of fair visitors.

“We are happy to witness the massive gathering of visitors at the book fair venue. The participating stalls have sold books for crores of rupees,” said Pramod Kalita, secretary to the publication board, which launched the book fair movement in the early eighties initially in collaboration with the National Book Trust of India. She added that the appreciation of book lovers encouraged the publication board to reprint many rare pieces as well as new creative work by new and promising authors.

2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India

Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.

The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry. While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.

The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.

Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.

Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.

Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.

– Naresh Khanna

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