Dawn Images

Even on Monday morning, the beginning of the fifth and last day of the 19th Karachi International Book Fair (KIBF) at the Expo Centre, there were long queues of madressah and schoolchildren, waiting to lay their hands on books placed at 300-odd stalls in three giant halls of the venue.

It wasn’t just the young ones who came to the fair in droves; the older lot, too, benefited from the event that has become one of the most eagerly awaited yearly features of Karachi’s cultural calendar.

Fizza, a third-year interior design student at Indus University, was carrying a bag of books on Monday. Talking to Dawn she said, “I like reading fiction. Mostly Anna Holmes’s books.”

Huda, her classmate, also reads fiction and thrillers. She said at the KIBF she could buy books at as inexpensive rates as Rs200.

Then there was 85-year-old Sabir Ali sitting in a chair after moving around one of the halls. “I had been associated with pharmacy all my life. Now I like to sit back and read. I’m here to buy religious books.”

Sabir Ali was accompanied by his son, Dr Sameer, a dentist. He said, “I have bought religious books, but I have also got some pieces of fiction for my children. One of them is Silent Killers.”

At one of the stalls, there were prominently displayed mystery books penned by the likes of Ibn-i-Safi and Ishtiaq Ahmed. In fact, the latter’s characters Mahmud, Farooq and Farzana were written on top of the stall to attract readers.

Ahmed Raza, a salesman, said a big number of people visited their stall in the course of five days to purchase Ishtiaq Ahmed and Ibn-i-Safi’s stories. “Yesterday (Sunday) it was very crowded. People of all age groups got Ibn-i-Safi books.”

Pakistan Publishers and Booksellers Association (PPBA) chairperson Aziz Khalid sounded cock-a-hoop about how the fair has done this year.

“This time around, it’s been even better and bigger. Today (Monday), so many schools have turned up. Also, members of all major political parties showed up in the last five days, which means that everyone wants to spread education in the country,” he said.

Khalid, giving an estimate as to how many readers showed up in the 2024 edition of the KIBF, said it was difficult to ascertain because it takes at least a couple of days after the event to assess such a thing. “But I can safely say that it’s more than last year’s. In 2023, more than 400,000 people came to the fair.”

He added that Urdu books do very well at the fair. The small-time bookstore owners do a great business which is why every year they request more stalls. “Our target is the middle class. We are not interested in the elites.”

This is the reason that the organisers didn’t have a formal ceremony on the last day of the KIBF. “Since it’s a Monday, schools are open, we want more and more children to visit us,” Khalid said.

Originally published in Dawn, December 17th, 2024