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New Delhi : Union Minister of State (MoS) for Human Resource Development (HRD) Sanjay Dhotre inaugurated the India Pavilion at the International Book Fair at Guadaljara, Mexico. India is the ‘Guest of Honour Country’ at this book fair and it is the first Asian country to have received this honour. This is the 33rd edition of Guadaljara International Book Fair and will continue till December 8, 2019.
This fair, which is called Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadaljara in Spanish, is the biggest book fair in the Spanish-speaking world. Dhotre delivered the inaugural address at the book fair during its opening on November 30, 2019. The National Book Trust (NBT), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD,) Government of India (GoI), is participating as the nodal agency of the GoI at this book fair.
Dhotre while speaking at the inaugural ceremony highlighted the deep literary connection between India and Mexico and referred to the legendry Mexican poet Nobel Laureate Octavio Paz’s first visit to India in 1952. He said, “Paz took deep interest in the culture and heritage of India and he wrote poems on Vrindavan, Shiva-Parvati, and on Amir Khusro.”
Dhotre also said that India and Mexico are in opposite directions on the world map and are thousands of miles away from each other but both the countries have great similarities in terms of their people, bio-diversity, family and cultural values, and even climatic conditions. He added that both the countries represent very old civilisations and both have undertaken a sustained struggle to get independence from the colonial rule, according to a PIB release.
Referring to the 150th anniversary celebration of the birth of the Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi, Dhotre said that Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy ‘Let Our Lives Be Open Books’ is the theme of the India pavilion at the fair, as it represents, among other things, an atmosphere of interaction and communication provided by the platforms such as book fairs.
Dhotre expressed hope that this book fair will provide platform for an accelerated literary, academic and cultural exchange between the two countries, and great literary pieces of both the countries will be translated into Indian languages and Spanish. He also invited all the publishers from across the world to the World Book Fair being organised by NBT in New Delhi during January 2020.