Shaista fatima/New Delhi

Harry Potter continues to rule the minds of young readers while the senior ones, rather surprisingly, are picking classics like Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky from the ongoing Delhi International Book festival.

The top stalls in the English language section where the public flocked were Penguin Publications, Harper Collin's, and Bloomsbury. At all three English language publishers, the vintage and black classics section was a major attraction for the visitors.

Nikhil Wadecha who looks after the fiction department in Bloomsbury said, "the best part about this Book Fair is that people from across and beyond India are coming to buy books here, we have been craving for this event for the past three years, it is like the Mecca for bibliophiles."

Girls at the Book Fair

Nikhil adds, "though the arrangements are augmented we still cannot compare it with an international level platform and that's not important even, the main thing is that we are having a good footfall and can meet the public in real-time."

Vaibhav, a computer science student at a college in Greater Noida said, "It is the first time that I am attending the Book Fair, the first three years of my college life were spent in lockdown, it feels good among books, I wish I could carry all of them home."

The Book fair that was held after a gap of three years saw youngsters to elders perusing through the pages of their fantasy books while celebrating 25 years since its first edition.

Some were heard saying, "It feels like nostalgia, Harry Potter is an emotion."

Children were allured by the red pages edition of the acclaimed fantasy novel Harry Potter. Suhana, 7, wanted her father to buy one set “because it was in red: even though she has one at home.

Some parents had brought their young children to expose them to the culture of books.

While some bought books in bulk, others were content with buying just one or two.

The venue – Pragati Maidan – has been undergoing major revamping for three years and was ready to host the book fair.

There is something for everyone, many Indian language authors namely Assamese, Bengali, and Marathi were attending a symposium and discussing the impact of Indian Literature on the masses.

Embassies of France, Portugal, Russia, Iran, and Great Britain were representing their literature and culture.

Aniket, a Portugal embassy volunteer said, "So, they are not for sale, this QR here upon scanning leads to the embassy site where one can drop a mail with either the name of the book or attached image, the embassy would then home deliver the books as a souvenir."

On the Iranian stall, Mohammad Hossein Ziaee Nia handed over a booklet to this reporter and said, ”This booklet depicts the lifestyle of an Iranian woman”.

Mohammad Hossein Ziaee Nia, Director at Green Palm Publications, says that though he has been to India some six years back, “For the bookfair, I am here for the first time and it feels home, the arrangements here by the Indian Government are superb and I want to thank them for organizing such an excellent event.”

Talking about the turmoil back home he says that the media these days is depicting a very distorted version of Iranian women, he showed a translated Iranian book “Unwithering Heights” by a woman author. "This book is a narrative by the wife of a freedom fighter and she narrated the story of her life before and after the Islamic Revolution. 30 years back she was studying at a University and how she took a stand for herself and her husband, it has a feminine angle and shows the strength of the Iranian women."

He says, “I want people to read books by Iranian authors as literature is the best way to understand the culture of any country, I wish people would take the burden to read more.”