Local youth throng book fair in Shimla

Shimla, July 2

The nine-day National Book Fair in Shimla, which concluded on Saturday, drew the attention of hundreds of youth this year.

Over 23 publications across India displayed over 2.5 lakh books during the national book fair. The organisers were happy to get a good response from the youth visiting the book fair. They say that the objective of the fair is to develop reading habits among people.

“The Ojas Centre for Art and Readership Development has been organising the fair. It is our sixth annual book fair in Shimla,” said Sachin Choudhary, organiser of the fair.

Many tourists visiting the city also visited the book fair organised at the Gaiety Theatre. “I have bought books for my brother at the fair. The youth are more into mobile and the Internet, but reading books is a good habit,” said Chahat, a young student and tourist from Punjab.

“I like reading books more than surfing the Internet. The Internet gives you basic knowledge, but books develop your imagination and creativity,” said Saod Salvia, a young buyer.

A local resident, Arundheti Thakur, said, “I think it was really nice to look at so many books under one roof. But it could have been better. I saw so many repeated books and a lot of books that I wanted to see, but could not find here. However, the fair had a good collection in terms of classic literature.”