Much to the delight of art- and book- lovers, India’s first ever Art Book Fair was announced at Jaipur Literature Festival 2017 last week. Scheduled to take place between 24-26 November this year, at India Habitat Centre (IHC), New Delhi, the New Delhi Art Book Fair (NDABF) is a collaborative effort between Marc Parent, a publishing professional, and Dr Alka Pandey, art critic and curator at the IHC.

Speaking with the media, the founder and director of NDABF, Parent raised a question. “Why until now an art book fair of quality has not been produced in India?” He emphasized that, “India has a rich visual culture and it’s high time that this country should see its first ever art book fair.”

Enlisting the top features of the fair, Parent said, “This fair, spread over three days, will have panel discussions, book launches, workshops, art classes and book selling. It is also a great platform where publishers from India and abroad can interact for their business. I wish more publishers from the West produce books on Indian tribal arts. I think that this fair will stretch the limits of art books, for instance digital art books. I hope it’s going to inspire art book lovers both from India and the West.”

Present at the occasion was Alka Pande. She said, “I am delighted that the introductory announcement about the fair took place at JLF 2017. India is a global player in many sectors. Then why should art be left behind?”

Speaking exclusively with Guardian 20 about the interest in curating such a fair, Parent says, “I have always been between literature and art because I have worked with various art book publishers. Working for Taschen, a German-based leading art book publisher, in India lately, I thought that this country needs an art book fair because India has a peculiar relationship with art books.

“The Indian market is so price sensitive and people think that art books very expensive, but actually they are not. These books are not always kept at a higher price but people have a kind of complex around art books when they assume the books are pricey.”

Elaborating on the importance of the fair, Parent adds, “This fair is the way to cut the boundaries between people and art books. It is also a way to enable the artists, photographers and designers from India to network with Western publishers, who always had this in mind to do an art book fair in India but hadn’t dared.”

Talking about the collaboration between IHC and himself, Parent says, “There is no better space than IHC to do this fair because it is quite modern in terms of artistic demonstrations and manifestations, thanks to the visual arts section that Alka heads at the IHC. So it makes complete sense to set up a team work like this between New Delhi Art Book Fair and IHC.”

‘This fair is the way to cut the boundaries between people and art books. It is also a way to be able for artists, photographers and designers from India to network with the western publishers, who always had this in mind to do an art book fair in India but hadn’t dared.”

Art books are a niche segment. At a time when the sale of printed books is already declining, Parent shares his viewpoint about the production and consequently the sale of art books in India. “It is not easy to produce an art book,” he says. “First of all, it requires a lot of money and secondly, one has to retail it accordingly, especially in a country like India where price is a real issue. India is the second English language book market in the world today after the US, but before the UK. Despite the fact that there are 17,000 publishers in India, not everybody produces art books but I think art books in India have been ill-treated. This is due to the notion that only the rich can afford art books, which is not the case. It needs to be addressed that today one can find an 800-page art book at around Rs 1,500. This is a major revolution and we need to talk about that.”

Art books on subjects like painting, photography, architecture, design and so on will be showcased at the fair. Publishing giant HarperCollins India will launch a few art books published in time for NDABF to commemorate its 25th anniversary in India. Books by publishers like Roli Books, Mapin Publishing and Niyogi Books will also be seen at the fair. The event will feature workshops, interactions and masterclasses by artists, photographers and writer. Topics like “The making of an Art Book”, “Coffee Table Book or Art Book?”, “The Representation of Art in India”, “Does the Art Book Do Justice to the Artist?”

“Facebook and the Changes Brought to an Old Industry by the Digital Age”, “Art Criticism and the Book”, “Innovative Art Campaigns” and so on will be touched upon in various panel discussions.

There will be no entry fee for the fair.