For cinema buffs, the upcoming 20th New Delhi World book Fair in the national Capital will be a gala fete. The Fair, which would showcase 300 publications on Indian cinema, is aimed to commemorate the centenary celebrations of cinema as well as bring out an Annotated Rights Catalogue.

Being held after every two years in the sprawling pavilions of Pragati Maidan, the fair would focus on the role and contribution of the cinematic medium towards popular culture on the centenary year celebrations of the Cinema. “The world book fair will feature several film celebrities and authors. The aim is to highlight and portray the works on Indian Cinema. It will be a live and mega event as several people associated with cinema will be also participating, including actor Farooq Sheikh, lyricist Javed Akhtar, Deepti Naval,” said Director National Book Trust MA Sikandar.

Earlier, at the beginning of this year, the NBT has already come out with a calendar showcasing the cinema based on literature. The main idea behind such an initiative is to portray the mutual relationship between books and cinema. During the fair, Minister of communication and Information Technology Kapil Sibal’s book would also be released.

In the nine-day mega event starting from February 25 till March 4, 27 countries and several international organisations are going to participate for which all work has been done. Besides, it would also be hosting ministerial delegation of foreign countries as well. The event would see around 1,300 publishers with 2,500 book stalls. The books would be on varied subjects. “Ministerial delegations of France and UAE are coming in the event. This is a new feature of the fair,” Sikandar said.

To make the event more interactive, several noted authors are going to participate in the fair at Pragati Maidan, including former President of India APJ Abdul Kalam, noted writer and historian William Dalrymple and MP Shashi Tharoor. Chief Election Commissioner of India would also feature among the panel of speakers on a book release. The novel thing to come across in the fair would be a rare exhibition of books authored by Rabindranath Tagore.

For children, it would be completely different affair this year, as myriad of programmes and activities have been included in the schedule. Bollywood actress Nandita Das would appear in the children’s pavilion. “We are going to make it more attractive. The event will feature seminars, talk shows, discussions, documentary, workshops and book releases,” said Sikandar, adding the three-day seminar would be held in collaboration with department of Modern Languages Delhi University. A one-day seminar on e-publishing would be also held.