In a first, Germany to be theme country at Kolkata book fair 2025
The event will be held from January 28 to February 9, featuring Germany as the theme country for the first time since 1976
West Bengal is set for its biggest festival after Durga Puja — the International Kolkata Book Fair, which draws over 25 lakh people — that is just a little over two months away. The event will be held from January 28 to February 9, and this will be the first time in its history that Germany will be the theme country.

“We would like to mention that the idea of organising the Kolkata Book Fair for the first time in 1976 came from Germany’s iconic Frankfurt Book Fair. Founder-members of the Publishers & Booksellers Guild (which organises the event in Kolkata) were regular visitors to that fair. At a later stage, representatives from the Frankfurt Book Fair also visited the Kolkata book fair. Also, in 1984 and in 2006, when India was the theme country of the Frankfurt fair, the guild had represented publishers and authors of eastern India,” guild president Tridib Chatterjee and general secretary Sudhangshu Sekhar Dey said in a joint statement on Friday (November 15, 2024).