The 17th five-day Karachi International Book Fair (KIBF) organized by the Pakistan Publishers and Booksellers Association (PPBA) and the National Book Foundation (NBF) is underway at the Expo Centre Karachi.
As many as 150 leading publishers and booksellers from Pakistan and 40 exhibitors from 17 foreign countries have set up more than 330 bookstalls at the Book Fair.
Sindh Minister for Education and Culture Syed Sardar Ali Shah inaugurated the fair, while Mehtab Akbar Rashdi was the keynote speaker at the opening ceremony.
According to the KIBF organizers, more than 330 stands are displaying books on all subjects to readers, including vast numbers of families, students and book lovers from all over the country. The KIBF aims to motivate the nation’s youth and students to take part in cultural and creative activities to strengthen their role as pillars of an intellectually, scientifically and culturally flourishing future. Around 400,000 people are expected to visit the 17th KIBF, which will continue till December 12.
MM News noted that even before the official opening, a large number of students from various schools and colleges participated in the KIBF being organized by the Pakistan Publishers and Booksellers Association. Writers, poets, social and political personalities who came to the exhibition termed the book fair welcoming for Karachi and said such an exhibition would be very helpful in improving the image of the city.
At the stall of Blind Resource Foundation Pakistan (BRFP), a non-governmental organization, MM News was told that the organization was founded to produce Quran Kareem in braille. Now they produce the soft copy of Grade 1 to Grade 6 course material in braille.
In the book fair, children from schools expressed their happiness. Students and parents bought their favorite books at discounted prices. The interest of women in the book fair was also noticeable. A large number of readers were taking an interest in local Urdu, Sindhi, Persian, Punjabi, and Gujarati books and literature.
The event brings together publishing and distribution houses, domestic and international publishers, booksellers, librarians and institutional customers to a single platform. Publishers from Iran, India, Turkey, Singapore, China, Malaysia, England, UAE and other countries are attending the international event.
