How Pune Book Festival revived book buying and reading across genres

What started as an idea floated during the G20 Education Working Group meeting in Pune in 2023 has, within three years, become one of India’s largest book gatherings after the World Book Fair in Delhi, organized by the National Book Trust (NBT), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education.

The growth of the festival has been rapid and seamless. In its first year, the event had 200 stalls and attracted approximately four lakh visitors. The response encouraged the organizers to expand and the next edition attracted 600 stalls and around 8.5 lakh footfall. By last year book sales had exceeded Nearly 25 lakh books were purchased by more than one million visitors, and online streaming of the sessions also crossed the 10 million mark. This year, the grounds are set to have 900 stalls – 800 selling books in Indian languages ​​and another 100 offering food – organizers are expecting around 12.5 lakh visitors and book sales are expected to touch the figure. 100 crore figure. This surge is not accidental, but part of a clear shift: the festival has brought back book buying as a collective activity in the city, cutting across all age groups and languages.

Much of the credit for the event’s momentum goes to its convener Rajesh Pandey, whose presentation during the G20 meeting convinced the NBT to consider Pune for a major public festival. Once the idea was approved, a committee led by Chairperson Professor Milind Marathe and Director Colonel Yuvraj Malik helped shape a festival that focused on public participation rather than commercial exhibition. Pandey said that readers now plan their December calendars around the festival, with families coming from all over Maharashtra to spend the entire day at the grounds. He explains that the nine-day event was conceived as a “festival by the people” and the crowds it attracted are proof that Pune was waiting for an accessible book platform of this scale.

Pandey said, “The success of the festival is really due to the people who supported it wholeheartedly. It is no longer just a festival but has become a movement.”

However, the size of the festival is not its only talking point. In 2023, it was recorded in the Guinness World Records when 3,066 parents read aloud to their children together – beating an earlier record in China. Cultural events became another major attraction, with around 25 dramatic, musical and dance productions attracting over two lakh visitors last year. This year’s list includes Booker Prize winner Banu Mushtaq, documentary filmmaker Siddharth Kak, astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and Grammy Award winner Ricky Cage; Ensuring steady crowds throughout the week. Over 100 books are scheduled to be released, and schools across the district are expected to join in on a dedicated Children’s Corner with competitions, storytelling and writing workshops.

This scale has also had a direct impact on the reading ecosystem in Maharashtra, especially the Marathi publishing industry, which has been struggling for almost a decade. The early 2000s were widely considered a high point for Marathi publishers, easily printing 2,000 to 3,000 copies of a new title. Independent bookstores flourished, about 200 of them spread across the state. Publishers specializing in translation, pop-up book exhibitors traveling to small towns, and even individuals selling books through social media platforms had steady readers. But demonetization, GST and rising operating costs slowed down the industry in the 2010s. The pandemic years worsened the decline. While backlist titles were still sold, new titles saw lower print runs and weaker response, and even Diwali issue magazines – of which over 400 are published each year, and traditionally drive reading in the festive season – experienced a decline in sales. The ‘All India Marathi Sahitya Sammelan’, once a major market for publishers, saw a decline. It was in this backdrop that the Pune Book Festival emerged as an unexpected economic and cultural boost. Many Marathi publishers participating in the first two editions said sales increased at a level they had not seen in years, with classics, translations and children’s books performing particularly well.

The response to the Pune Book Fair has been extremely encouraging at a time when the book publishing industry is grappling with many challenges,” said Aradhya Moghe, who has self-published his books.

Young readers, especially those aged 18 to 25, were among the most enthusiastic buyers, something publishers had not seen at any other program on this scale. For many, the festival became the most reliable sales platform of the year, comparable only to Sahitya Sammelan’s better-performing years, but far larger in volume.

Mansi Kulkarni, a final year engineering student from Nagpur, said, “I had originally planned to visit my native place in Vidarbha on December 13. But when I heard about the dates of the book festival, I postponed my plans.”

Its influence has extended beyond Marathi also. Hindi publishers have reported consistently strong sales in self-help, history, fiction and competitive exam content at the festival, while English publishers have seen growing interest in contemporary fiction, biographies and young adult titles. Many independent English-language authors, who typically struggle to move copies despite a steady online presence, reported direct walk-in purchases at their stalls. The multilingual format of the festival has helped readers cross linguistic boundaries; It is not unusual to see visitors leaving with a mix of English novels, Marathi non-fiction and Hindi poetry.

Organizers believe part of the revival can be explained by the return of books to larger public space. A city that sees 800 book stalls in one place starts reacting differently to books. For many families, the festival has become an affordable cultural outing: parents bring children to the events, stay for the performances, browse the stalls and often end up shopping more than they planned. Schools organize educational trips. Colleges bring in entire departments. Organizers say the process of browsing itself addresses the digital fatigue that has kept many people away from sustained reading. Every year after the festival ends, many bookstores in Pune report a temporary increase in walk-ins, and publishers receive follow-up orders for titles that gained visibility at the fair.

This change may also have something to do with the limitations of digital reading. The e-book boom that seemed imminent a decade ago has subsided. While people continue to read articles and long-form pieces online, frequent reading of books on screens has decreased. Streaming platforms have shifted the focus away from physical books to digital books. In this region, a large physical festival provides a concentrated experience that no online marketplace can replicate. Readers flip through books, interact with authors, listen to discussions, buy signed copies, and create a memory around the read – activities that change the way they select and subsequently engage with books.

Festival organizers see this as the beginning of a major behavioral change. Pune has always had a strong reading culture, shaped by its libraries, public institutions, student population and publishing houses. But the past two years have shown that the appetite for physical books hasn’t gone away; It was simply deactivated. The festival provided a focal point for the re-emergence of that interest. With millions expected to attend again this year, and exhibitors preparing for another busy week, it appears the city has found a new annual tradition – one that brings together readers across languages ​​and generations at a time when the publishing industry needs it most.

Pandey said the core idea of ​​the festival hasn’t changed from the first year: “Give people enough space to find books without any barriers,” Pandey said. He says polling conducted each year proves that the demand for such a space is stronger than anyone anticipated. As the third edition begins at the Ferguson College Ground, the crowds it attracts will once again test, and possibly confirm, Pune’s status as one of the few cities where the reading habit has received a fresh and unexpected revival.