Kolkata Book Fair - Participants

Participants

Most bookstalls in the book fair keep English and Bengali books. Popular book stalls include Ananda Publishers, Dey's Publishing, Deb Sahitya Kutir, and Mitra Ghosh Publishers,Pratibhas, Punashcha, Sishu Sahitya Samsad, Deep Prakashan, Tuli Kalam, Bhasha o Sahitya, Maondol Book House, Saraswato Library - among Bengali language book shops and Timely Books, Seagull Books, Rupa & Co., Penguin India, Tata Mcgraw-Hill - among English language book shops.

Virtually all major European scientific publishers or corresponding franchisees set up shop, including Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Kluwer and Springer Verlag.

The fair also has diplomatic mission stalls, which typically display and sell books of their country. The British Council, United States Information Service, and Alliance française typically host stalls. The European Union, Bangladesh and several Latin American embassies have hosted stalls in the recent years.

In 2007 for the first time Romania is included among the participants. Teodora Enache, one of the best jazz artists in Romania, will be as well 'present' through her music.

Most major news media in Calcutta have stalls, including The Statesman, and The Telegraph.

Calcutta institutions, which have their own press or publishing house typically host stalls - including the Indian Museum, Asiatic Society, survey institutes like Zoological Survey of India, Botanical Survey of India, Geological Survey of India, and universities like University of Calcutta, Jadavpur University and Rabindra Bharati University.

Other notable annual stalls include:

• The famous Santiniketan-based used bookseller Subarnarekha
• A stall hosted by the famous Kolkata artist Rathin Mitra, featuring his work. Rathin Mitra is famous for his panoramas of Kolkata
• The food stall of BenFish (Bengal Fisheries) typically attracts more customers than most bookshops

The initial rule that only publishers, and not institutions which just sold or distributed books but did not publish any books, can participate in the fair has been waved in the 2000s. This rule often forced small distributors to bring out a token publication just to be able to participate in the fair.