By mid-morning, Bharat Mandapam is already buzzing. Students drift between kiosks with backpacks slung low, families move carefully through crowded aisles, and readers pause mid-step—caught between a familiar title and an unexpected find. The 53rd edition of the New Delhi World Book Fair (NDWBF), underway from January 10 to 18, has turned the venue into a dense literary landscape, alive with books from India and across the world.
Organised by the National Book Trust (NBT), India, under the Ministry of Education, the fair brings together over 1,000 publishers from more than 35 countries. Free entry, introduced for the first time, has noticeably broadened the crowd. TMS did a walkthrough of the fair’s first day.
Interaction with Naval officers
Visitors are first drawn to the Theme Pavilion, marked by a light-brown façade and ceremonial guards at its entrance. Titled Indian Military History: Valour and Wisdom @75, the 1,000-square-metre space traces India’s military journey from 1947 to 2025 through books, photographs, documentaries, and large-scale installations.
A sculpture commemorating the heroes of Kargil stands alongside portraits of martyrs from wars spanning 1947–48 to 1999. Replicas of the Arjun Tank, INS Vikrant, and LCA Tejas anchor the pavilion, while panel discussions revisit major operations and conflicts.
Indian Navy officers Ranjish and Naveen Godara were present during interactions, fielding questions from students and curious onlookers. Adjoining the pavilion, the NBT Bookstore features titles from the Param Vir Chakra series, along with books on freedom fighters, defence, security, science, and Indian culture.
A short walk away, visitors cluster around digital kiosks at the Rashtriya e-Pustakalaya (ReP), a government-backed platform offering free access to over 6,000 e-books across Indian languages. From military memory, the fair opens out into a broader landscape of publishing.
Indian publishers, discounts galore
Across the halls, Indian publishers—Hindi and English—dominate the floor, drawing steady footfall. Rajkamal Prakashan Samooh stands out among Hindi publishers, showcasing around 510 titles across nine imprints, ranging from novels and children’s literature to history and non-fiction. “There’s growing interest in Hindi non-fiction and historical writing,while new books along with author signings will take place over the week” said Amod Maheshwari, director of Rajkamal Productions.
Wellness and traditional knowledge form another strong current. There were stalls that had yoga textbooks for Classes 1 to 10 aligned with the Bhartiya Shiksha Board.
Mainstream English-language publishers—from Penguin and HarperCollins to Simon & Schuster—offer classics and glossy hardbacks of English classics with too-good to be true discounts alongside contemporary fiction, biographies, popular history, and political non-fiction.
“I’ve been coming here for years, but this is the first time I’ve stayed the whole day,” said Ananya Rao, a postgraduate student picking up a hardbound Sherlock Holmes collection. “The sheer number of books under one roof is a haven for any book lover.”
Nearby, Cambridge University Press draws students and scholars with peer-reviewed academic titles across 36 disciplines. “With over 3,000 books on display, ranging from anthropology to journalism and law, this is a must-visit space for readers,” said Virendra Kumar, a manager at the stall.
A turn away from these aisles marks a noticeable shift in tone and texture.
A walk through the world
International stalls line the next stretch, with delegations from Russia, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, France, Nepal, Hungary, China, Türkiye, and Abu Dhabi, lending the fair a distinctly global cadence.
Qatar, the guest country this year, occupies a large pavilion curated by its Ministry of Culture. Around 200 books on Islam, peace, coexistence, and cultural exchange are displayed alongside paintings and calligraphy.
A swirling cube inscribed with Arabic words dominates the entrance, while a counter offering visitors their names written in Arabic remains a steady draw. “This is about fostering cultural understanding between Qatar and India,” said Ahmed, a representative from the Ministry of Culture.
The French Institute’s stall, designed to resemble Notre Dame, houses over 800 titles in partnership with the French Embassy. “Books are a space for dialogue,” said Victoria Dobritz from the French Embassy Book and Debate Department. “Works by Annie Ernaux, the 2022 Nobel laureate in Literature, are among the most sought-after” ," Dobritz says.
Türkiye, attending for the fourth consecutive year, showcases 191 translated titles. “We translate Turkish literature into Indian languages and Indian works into Turkish,” said Kara Razaan, from the Turkiye Ministry of Culture, pointing to sustained interest in Turkish literary fiction. Amid these global exchanges, the youngest readers carve out a world of their own.
Readers across generations
The Children’s Pavilion, Kidz Express, offers a lively contrast to the quieter browsing elsewhere. Dedicated entirely to young readers, it hosts storytelling sessions, theatre, quizzes, and art workshops, its energy spilling into the surrounding aisles.
“We found books for the kids, exam guides for the family, and history books for ourselves,” said Suresh Kumar, visiting with his children. “It feels more like a festival than a book fair.”
From children’s magazines like Champak to academic heavyweights such as Cambridge University Press, the fair reflects India’s layered reading culture.
As the aisles thin by evening, people walk back wearily, faces softened by smiles, favourite books tucked under their arms. NDWBF 2026 is no longer just a marketplace for books; it is a space where memory, knowledge, and global voices intersect, briefly turning the capital into a city of readers.