Srinagar, Aug 13 (KNO): The Chinar Book Festival is set to take place at SKICC, Srinagar, from August-17 to 25 in collaboration with National Book Trust, India and the district administration Srinagar.
The first national book festival in the valley will also see participation from National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL).
According to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the upcoming nine-day book fair to be held in front of the picturesque Dal, will feature more than 200 stalls providing access to books in various languages including English, Urdu, Kashmiri, Hindi, Dogri, and other Indian languages.
The event will offer special discounts and an opportunity for readers to engage with books from over a thousand publishers nationwide.
Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Dr. Bilal Mohiud-din-Bhat, IAS in a press conference held at the Winter Hall of SKICC on Tuesday said, "Chinar Book Festival to be held from 17th to 25th August, will be the first National Book Festival and the biggest book fair of Kashmir Valley.”
He said that there has not been any festival of such a large scale in Srinagar for a long time, “hence this is a great opportunity for the people of Srinagar, where amidst the books, readers will be able to participate in various programs related to literature, art and culture.”
In the book fare festival, programs will be organized in three parts—Creative writing workshops like Calligraphy, Story Telling, Caricature, Dyeing Competition, Art Workshop, Slogan Writing Competition, Puppet Craft, Vedic Mathematics and many other creative writing workshops will be organized for children from 10 am to 1 pm.
Dr. Bilal on the occasion urged the people of Srinagar to come to the Chinar Book Festival and make the festival a success. He also informed that five free buses will be run from Ghantaghar to SKICC to reach the book festival.
During the conference of Chinar Book Festival, Director, National Book Trust, India, Yuvraj Malik said, “This book festival is organized by the people of the Valley and for the people of the Valley, where readers will find more than 200 book stalls.”
He said that the youth will get a chance to meet famous artists. Kashmir is the land of scholars and poets. “Kashmir is heaven and books are also associated with heaven. This will also be the biggest book festival of Urdu literature till date.l”
Malik further said that the visitors will understand the cultural heritage of Jammu & Kashmir through ICHR's photo exhibition and will also be able to know about India's development journey in space through ISRO's photo exhibition organized keeping in mind the National Space Day.
He also said that bagless day is celebrated in all the schools of the country and it provides an opportunity for the parents and teachers to bring children to the book festival, it will be a unique learning experience for them. “During the book festival Authors will also get an opportunity to release their books at the Literary Stage, Chinar Talks.”—(KNO)