The curtain raiser press meet of the 48^th International Kolkata Book Fair 2025 was organized in the presence of eminent guests.

The inauguration will take place on 28^th January at 4 pm by Hon’ble Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee along with Dr. Phillip Ackermann, H.E. Ambassador of Germany in India, Dr. Marla Stuckenberg, Regional Director, Goethe Institut, South Asia, Shri Abul Bashar and Ministers of Government of West Bengal and other dignitaries.

Shri Abul Bashar will be conferred a GUILD LIFETIME LITERARY AWARD worth Rs 2,00,000/- in the inaugural ceremony by Hon’ble Chief Minister Smt Mamata Banerjee. 

The book fair will see the highest number of participation from book publishers and little magazines around 1000.

Germany, USA, UK, France, Russia, Nepal, Spain, Peru, Argentina, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and other Latin American countries in the foreign complex and national publishing companies will also be part of the book fair.

Major gates have been named as Salil Chowdhury Ritwik Ghatak Gate, Goethe Gate, Max Mueller Gate, Hackeschen Höfe Gate, Brandenburg Gate, Biswa Bangla Gate, and Jibananda Nazrul Gate. 

Roads have been named after eminent German literary personalities like Rainer Maria Rilke, Bertolt Brecht, Franz Kafka, Herta Muller, Thomas Mann, and others.

Senior Citizen’s Day will be organized on 4^th February at 4:30 pm. Author Joy Goswami, Publisher Ranjan Sarkar, and Reader Satyabrata Ghoshal will be felicitated.

For the first time, the Book Fair will have a special Mascot, ducks named Haso & Hasi. They will greet all the visitors of the Book Fair. 

The daily lottery will be organized every day. 15 lucky winners will win Book Gift Coupons worth Rs.1000/-.

With the help of the International Kolkata Book Fair android app, one can locate any stall in the fair using Google location. It is now available in the Play Store. The app and ground map with the participant list for the IKBF 2025 will be available by scanning QR codes posted throughout the Book Fair.

Priyanka Dutta