Frankfurt, Oct. 9 -- On October 7, Deepak Bansal, Consul General of India (Acting) and Sundeep Bhutoria, noted author and social activist, inaugurated the India National Stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Claudia Kaiser, Vice President, Frankfurt Book Fair; Prof Dhananjay Singh, Member Secretary, ICSSR; Varun Gulati, Secretary, Sahitya Akademi; Hitendra Mishra, Director, Central Hindi Directorate; Prof R Chandrasekaran, Director, Central Institute of Classical Tamil and other dignitaries were also present.
In his welcome address, Yuvraj Malik, Director, National Book Trust, India (NBT-India), spoke about the importance of the India National Stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair. He said the Stand has been conceptualised to bring Indian books to a major international forum and to promote Indian literature and languages under one umbrella. He reiterated that the Stand represents not one publisher but all Indian publishers collectively and through them the entire country.
Deepak Bansal said the India National Stand has become more relevant this year, which marks 75 years of relations between India and Germany. He remarked that India's presence at the fair would help strengthen the relationship between the two countries and appreciated the collective exhibit of books at the Stand.
Speaking on the importance of reading, Sundeep Bhutoria said that books help us explore different aspects of the life, culture and history of India. He emphasised the diversity of Indian culture and the role of translations in furthering the country's literary heritage.
Kumar Vikram, Chief Editor and Joint Director, NBT-India, highlighted the concept and different elements of the Stand. He said it has been specially designed to focus on the works of major stalwarts of Indian literature such as Premchand and Sumitranandan Pant and to bring people, especially the young generation, closer to their works.
The inaugural function was followed by the release of German and Spanish translations of 'Modern Indian Classic Stories for Children' published by National Book Trust, India. The books include 'Mitthu' by Premchand; 'Do Goraiya' and 'Chamgadad ka Ras' by Bhisham Sahni; 'Cycle ki Sawari' by Sudarshan; 'Bahadur' by Amarkant; 'Sabse Sundar Ladki' by Vishnu Prabhakar and 'Kunji' by Acharya Shivpujan Sahay. The series has been conceptualised specially for young readers, to connect them with the works of stalwarts of Indian literature whose writing is as relevant today as when it was written.
The India National Stand has been set up by the Ministry of Education and NBT-India as the nodal agency, in association with the Consulate General of India, Frankfurt (Ministry of External Affairs).
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.