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| Catch them young: Children at the Nagaon district library reading room |
Jan 17 : If J.K. Rowling single-handedly steered a computer-obsessed younger generation to books, social organisations in Nagaon are making their own little effort to attract the “minor” readership.
Next Monday, Neherubali, opposite the district library, will be transformed into a minefield of books, where everybody is invited — to browse and buy. Over the next six days, the book fair, hosted by a publishing house called Krantikal, will roll out one programme after another to draw the ponytails and shorts to the pavilion.
Aiding Krantikal’s efforts will be names like National Book Trust, Readers Pride, Chitralekha, Sahitya Akademi, Anwesha, Bantata and Sarathi.
Thirty-seven books on and for children will be released at the fair, which has been ensured participation by 133 publishing houses from across the country.
“We are building a large campus for the fair, named after Lokasewak Haladhar Bhuyan, in Neherubali, as we are still receiving proposals from publications interested in joining the fair,” said organising committee general secretary Munindra Saikia.
A special literary session for children will be held on January 20, followed by three seminars on Writings for Children on January 22, 24 and 25 and a workshop on terracotta.
The idea of a book fair exclusively for children came up during a discussion last September, said the joint secretary of the organising committee, Dulal Barua.
“We thought of organising a children’s book fair and discussed the idea with authorities, including the deputy commissioner, and received a very positive feedback. That encouraged us to go ahead with the project,” Barua said.
There was, of course, support from the local administration and leading social organisations of the district. Deputy commissioner J. Balaji said all possible initiatives would be taken to ensure participation of schoolstudents from all parts of Nagaon.
“Few children these days read anything beyond their textbooks. We are dreaming of creating a new generation of writers and the book fair may just be a step towards that,” he said.
Chief minister Tarun Gogoi will inaugurate the fair, while newly elected Asam Sahitya Sabha chief Rongbong Terang will be the special guest at an open session on the last day of the fair.
“We have invited all the renowned writers of children’s literature to the fair. There will be three or four special interaction programmes for writers and the child readers. We hope this will help the authors understand the younger generation better,” said organising committee chief and forest minister Rockybul Hussain. | 
