Greetings from the Publishers and Booksellers Guild – organisers of the world’s largest attended book fair, the International Kolkata Book Fair!

We are pleased to announce that, the International Kolkata Book Fair recognised by the International Publishers Association, Geneva, will be inaugurated on 30 January 2023 afternoon and will continue till 12 February 2023. The fair will be inaugurated by our Chief Guest, Honorable Chief Minister of West Bengal, Smt. Mamata Banerjee and other dignitaries.

We are deeply indebted to our Hon’ble Chief Minister, Smt Mamata Banerjee. After 45 long years of the International Kolkata Book Fair, the Book Fair got its own address by the Hon’ble Chief Minister Boimela Prangan’ who announced this nomenclature from the central dais of the inaugural ceremony of IKBF 2022. We also acknowledge the all-out support received from the Government of West Bengal and Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation as a whole. We are also grateful to the noted artist Suvaprasanna, who designed the logo of ‘Boimela Prangan’.

This is to be reiterated that in 2022, just after the improvement of the pandemic situation, 2.2 million book lovers visited the International Kolkata Book Fair, and books worth Rs 23 crores were sold, breaking all its past records. This resulted in attracting a greater number of new publishers who intend to participate in the upcoming Book Fair.
We are honored to announce that the Focal Theme Country of the 46th International Kolkata Book Fair 2023 will be — Spain. This will be their second appearance in the International Kolkata Book Fair as the Theme Country. Earlier it was in 2006. We fondly remember that in 2006 at the Spanish Pavilion of the IKBF, the Embassy of Spain in India signed an MOU with Calcutta University, after which the Government of Spain started providing a lecturer for the Spanish Language Department. In addition to that, the international examination DELE (Diplomas of Spanish as Foreign Language) started in Kolkata, conducted by Instituto Cervantes, Government of Spain.

We are extremely happy and privileged to have with us today H.E. Mr. José María Ridao Domínguez, Ambassador of Spain in India along with other dignitaries. He will apprise you in brief about his participation of Spain at the International Kolkata Book Fair 2023. We believe that Spain’s participation as the Theme will strengthen the cultural bonding between the two great countries.

The international complex will also have the presence of the UK, USA, Japan, Vietnam, France, Thailand, Australia, Argentina, Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba, Peru, other Latin American countries, and Bangladesh.

Publishers from the States of India like Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Telangana, Odisha along with the Little Magazines will also be an integral part of the event.

Another important highlight of the Book Fair — the 9th Kolkata Literature Festival (KLF) will be held from 9 to 11 February 2023. There will be many engrossing sessions, and panel discussions on literature, film, drama, music, dance, and many more.

Like the last edition, this year also the IKBF will have a strong virtual live presence through the website and social media pages of the Book Fair. Our exclusive digital partner is Sister Nivedita University.

We are sure that like in previous years, you will come forward and extend wholehearted support to make this pride of the city once again successful. We welcome you all to the festival of books.