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India to stress modernity at 2006 Frankfurt Book Fair
DPA

Frankfurt, Oct 21 (DPA) India will stress its modernity rather than its traditions when it puts on a "guest of honour" show at next year's Frankfurt Book Fair, officials from New Delhi said.

The Indians are to make history as the only country ever to have featured twice in the guest spot. They played the role earlier in 1986.

At a briefing Thursday on the show during this year's Frankfurt Book Fair, National Book Trust chairman Bipan Chandra said the plan was to highlight India's "modern culture" and its "highly developed publishing and printing industry worthy of world attention".

India's logo for the Book Fair presentation was on view this year: it shows a stylised eye on the background of a stylised book.

More than 30 Indian authors are to be brought to Frankfurt next year. Chandra said that India's English-speaking authors were already well known outside the country, so those writing in India's 23 other main languages would be mainly chosen.

To promote Indian literature, a fund has been set up to translate 150 choice books before the show.

Sudeep Banerjee, chairman of the organising committee, said the financial resources available were limited but India, which has a population of more than 1 billion, would present convincing quality. He did not disclose the budget.

This year's special-guest presentation is costing South Korea 15 million euros ($18 million), a record for the Book Fair.

India is to unveil in March its programme of concerts and other cultural events in Frankfurt and other cities.

Those events are normally a main part of the guest of honour show, which is aimed primarily at the German public and the media.

Banerjee said that despite significant illiteracy, India had 600 million people who could read at least one language, and thus had more readers than most other nations had population.

Indo-Asian News Service