BENGALURU: Picture this: You spot a van that looks like any other in the city. But when the trunk opens, instead of leather seats and balls of dust, you see books. Towers of them, neatly stacked. You’re free to pick one up and lose yourself in it. Sounds like a bibliophile’s dream, right? Walking BookFairs, a Bhubaneshwar-based independent bookstore, library and bookmobile, is going to make this a reality for Bengalureans on December 28 at Brigade Road.
Walking BookFairs was started by Akshaya Bahibala and Satabdi M in 2014, with the aim of “bringing books to more people everywhere and to make books more affordable and accessible for more people.” ‘Poems on the Road’ is one such initiative that will give people from all social backgrounds, a chance to browse, read and buy books from a collection of 500 English poetry books from around the world. Through this pan-India tour, Satabdi and Bahibala plan to cover 10,000 km, 20 states and 30 cities, over two months.
Besides browsing paperbacks, participants can also take part in an open mic. “We have an open mic and poetry reading session for people to share their experiences, and speak up through stories, songs, poems. This is open to all in any language, subject and form. All participants will receive a certificate and book mark as a mark of our appreciation,” said Satabdi.
The bookstore has tied up with publishing houses HarperCollins India, Pan Macmillan India and Speaking Tiger Books for the initiative. “We are supporting this tour partly through book sales from our travelling bookstore. We are an independent bookstore and we do not accept or believe in corporate sponsorship,” said the founders.
While this is the first time the duo is hitting the road with a collection of poetry books, it isn’t their first time driving around in their bookmobile. They visited the city in 2016, during their pan-India tour - Read More India. The first visit gave them an “overwhelming response”, leaving them hoping for the same this time too. “One might find a few bookstores in a city like Bengaluru but these bookstores are only a handful when compared to the increasing number of cafes in the city. Also, there are thousands of people in this city or any other city, who do not have access to books. We as citizens and as a society must now act in every way we can to bridge this gap,” said Bahibala.