Kolkata, Jan 16 (PTI) 'Germany Day' will be celebrated at the 48th International Kolkata Book Fair on January 29, Publishers and Booksellers Guild, the organisers of the fair said on Thursday.

Germany is the focal theme country in the International Kolkata Book Fair which will be held from January 28 to February 9 at Salt Lake City, Kolkata.

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German Ambassador Philipp Ackermann and Director Goethe Institut, Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi Marla Stukenberg, will be present at the grand inaugural ceremony of the book fair on January 28 as guests of honour, Guild president Tridib Chatterjee said at a press meet in New Delhi.

The book fair organisers will celebrate January 29 as 'Theme Country Germany Day' on the book fair ground in the presence of a team from Germany consisting of litterateurs, artists and painters from the European nation, he said.

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This year, there will be no hangars (halls) coming up to house English language publishers in a cluster like in past years and a designated ‘Premier Area' for all English language participants.

However, there will be stalls for individual publications and state/central organisations, he said, adding around 1,000 stalls will come up at the fair this year..

"Last year, 2.7 million people visited the book fair and books worth Rs 23 crore were sold. We are amazed at this landmark moment created by the booklovers," Chatterjee said.

On the day of the inauguration, a special 'Sahitya Samman' (literary award) worth Rs 2 lakh will be handed over by chief guest West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to prominent Bengali litterateur Abul Bashar.

All major publishing houses like Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, Hachette, Bloomsbury, Rupa, Pan Macmillan, Orient Blackswan, Parragon, Pearson, Westland and others will have their own pavilions in the International Kolkata Book Fair 2025..

US, UK, France, Iran, Russia, Spain, Argentina, Guatemala, Peru, Costa Rica, Iran and other Latin American countries are participating directly.

For the first time, there will be a special exhibition titled ‘Engraved Illustrations: Journey of Book Illustrations during the 19th Century in Bengal, curated by Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya. The exhibition will highlight the chronological journey of engraved illustrations in Bengali books from the 1800s to the 1900s. It will also feature original books from the 19th century, woodblocks, and other printmaking exhibits.

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