However, many Kolkatans feel that the fair will lose its ambience if it is held indoors or away from the Maidan, which is a vast stretch of green in the heart of the city.

After a yearlong uncertainty, the world's largest non-trade book fair, settled for Park Circus Maidan to host the literary carnival in 2008.

[12] The 39th International Kolkata Book Fair 2015 was inaugurated on 27 January at 4:00 pm, Tuesday by the Honorable Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banarjee.

The 38th International Kolkata Book Fair 2014 was inaugurated on 28 January at 4:30 pm by the Honorable Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banarjee.

The duration of the 2013 Kolkata Book Fair was extended by three days, following a request from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, to help small and medium-sized publishers.

Besides the focus country of Bangladesh, Britain, the US, Italy, Vietnam, China, Israel and Costa Rica set up book pavilions at the fair.

West Bengal's newly appointed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the Kolkata Book Fair on 24 January 2012 at 4:30 pm.

So we were forced to do so," Kolkata Book Fair organizer's top official Tridib Kumar Chattopadhyay told a local TV news channel.

Important personages such as Vikram Seth, Ruskin Bond and Chetan Bhagat literature were scheduled to participate in a 12-day event, as were many writers from abroad.

This Year the Book Fair, with Italy as the theme country, was inaugurated in the presence of Severgnini, Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee and other senior officials from the world of culture and literature.

Kolkata's first Literature Meet (KLM), organized by the Fair, in which famous writers such as Vikram Seth, Ruskin Bond, Chetan Bhagat, Shashi Tharoor, Mohammed Hanif, Amit Chaudhuri and Basu Kuhn were present.

Organized by the Publishers & Booksellers Guild, the 35th edition of the International Kolkata Book Fair 2011 was successfully held from 26 January to 6 February 2011.

This year, on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of the Nobel Laureate immortal poet Rabindranath Tagore to whose memory the Fair had been dedicated, there was no entry fee for the visitors.

The five halls in the fairground had been named after Acharya Prafulla Chandra, Debabrata Biswas, Shantideb Ghosh, Mother Teresa and Suchitra Mitra.

Among the celebrities present were Ranjit Mallick, Swagatalakshmi, Mamatashankar, Lopamudra, Goutam Ghose, Chaiti Ghoshal, Anindita Kazi and Sunil Ganguly, Sirshendu, Samares, Suchitra Bhattacharya and others.

SPAN Magazine, which is a popular source of information on the close Indo-US relationship, will also have representatives present and a display to highlight its more fascinating articles about shared Indian and American experiences."

Despite the two years given to the fair organizers to find alternative venues, no progress was made till 2007, mainly due to the fact that Kolkata lacks a large convention center with modern facilities.

The Court had issued an order the previous year against the holding of any fair or exhibition in the Maidan following a petition against it being converted into a venue for such occasions on grounds of environmental degradation.

[citation needed] A bibliophile himself, Mr. Bhattacharjee took up the matter with the Defence Ministry, as the Indian Army is the custodian of the Maidan and the holding of any event there requires a no objection certificate from it.

[citation needed] Mr. Bhattacharjee made a similar appeal, and with success, for the 2006 Book Fair, an event that drew more than 2.5 million people and in the course of which Rs.

[25] An eminent environmentalist moved the Calcutta High Court claiming that preparation for the Kolkata Book Fair was leading to pollution of the Brigade Parade Ground area, considered to be the lung of the metropolis.

Subhas Dutta placed before a division bench, presided by justice Asim Banerjee, 30 photographs which he claimed were proof of the digging and spoiling of the ground by contractors and workers setting up the showrooms and book fair offices.

Dutta claimed trenches had been dug to place cables and to prepare service privies, affecting the environmental balance of the ground, and alleged that the State Government had not taken any action in this regard.

The High Court directed early that the environmental balance of the brigade parade ground must be kept intact and the greenery maintained for the sake of the people's health.

[26] Kolkata Book Fair 2005, held at Milan Mela Prangan, highlighted the IT and ITES aspects of the state along with the changing face of West Bengal's infrastructure and talent pool.

The book fair had an information technology park (ITP) where several IT companies displayed and sold IT products relating to education, literature and other projects.

[citation needed] There was enough police posted at the venue of the 29th Kolkata Book Fair to tackle any eventuality even before it was formally inaugurated on Tuesday by Chilean poet Raúl Zurita.

In 2014, Wikipedia made its first appearance at the Kolkata Book fair, launching its campaign to enthuse people to become regular contributors to its site.

Most Kolkatans prefer to use public transport like the Kolkata Metro Railway and bus service, which have extended schedules during fair days.

A large fire in 1997 destroyed over one third of the fair, burnt over 100,000 books and caused the death of a visitor (Jiten Seal), who suffered a heart attack brought on by the ensuing stampede.