Overview
- On Wednesday the state government formally set up a 24‑member high‑powered advisory committee to guide the International Kolkata Book Fair 2027.
- The Publishers & Booksellers Guild will no longer hold sole control for 2027 as the Guild, the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre and the National Book Trust will jointly organise the event.
- Journalist Prasenjit Bakshi was named convener of the committee while the Guild’s current president Tridib Kumar Chatterjee and secretary Sudhangshushekhar De were not included.
- The committee includes representatives from Ramakrishna Mission, Bharat Sevashram Sangha, NBT, EZCC, known BJP/RSS‑linked figures and four Guild nominees, and may form sub‑committees for operational work.
- State advisers held meetings at the secretariat on August 17 and August 21 to design the new framework and officials say the restructuring aims to widen participation and resolve past operational issues.