A visit to KIBF 2009
Karachi International Book Fair started yesterday. I went to see the stuff and honestly it wasn’t that great. One can always visit places like liberty and paramount any day. The massive participation was of Children and Islamic Books publishers. One couldn’t get books on specific subjects that easily other than academic ones. There was no major INTERNATIONAL participation except of India and Iran with barely two or three stalls. One whole hall was devoted to activity area.
What I liked:
– Discounts at OUP stall
– Iqbal Academy Lineup
– KSA Art Exhibit.
– Counselling at one stall regarding fostering reading in children. Forgot the name, sorry.
This one didn’t come up to my expectation. Crowds were really low . I overheard one big publisher making there is no market for books, I would suggest them, check your prices. Still in such times, this is very much needed and I am sure if you go there, you’ll end up buying something good like I did.
PS: This is THE blunder of the season. It got saved as a draft earlier :p
I told a couple of friends that it’s a good book fair based on last year’s visit. I hope they won’t be too disappointed with it.
Is is entry for family only at KIBF??
I went with my kids on Sat and they bought books from their Eidee. Got 15% disc on the show price at Paramount at the cashier. Over all I thought it was a good setup (my first visit) but yes the crowds were less.