Self help books might have always been bestsellers at book fairs in Nepal, but this year might be the year of biographies and spiritual texts. According to the book vendors at the 11th iteration of Brihat Pustak Pradarshani, currently ongoing in the Capital, biographies of one particular personality—US President Donald Trump—have been flying off the shelves.

“I have been a part of this book fair since its first iteration and we always sold large copies of BP Koirala’s biography and Seto Bagh by Diamond SJB Rana,” says Ram Shrestha from Paanch Pokhari Book Store, who occupy a stall at the fair, “This year, for the first time, there was been a marked surge in demand for biographies on world leaders—especially Donald Trump.”

According to Shrestha, copies of Nepali translations of Trump’s biographies are outperforming even the demand Barack Obama’s books commanded.

With 10 vendors boasting over 7,000 titles, the current iteration of the book fair has been themed “Reading for Change” and aims to encourage people to move away from gadgets and technological distractions and re-indulge in the pleasure of reading.

According to vendor, apart from the popularity of biographies, religious books have been performing well at the fair. “It is a misconception that the younger generations

are no longer interested in religious books,” said Tara Kumari Karnal, another vendor at the fair, “Just today, we had an 18-year-old reader purchase five books on Osho at one go.” Nazeer Ul Haque from Ahmadiyya Muslim Jammat, who also have a stall, said that Qurans have sold well at the fair as well.

Other organisers shared that the book fairs like these promote not just readership but also the 105 publication houses that are publishing various genres of Nepali language books. Ishwori Khanal, a publisher present at the fair, said that book fairs are important because they bring vendors and publishers face to face with readers and help them understand what kinds of books are most popular in the market, through feedback in real time. “These book fairs are also good time to cash in. Sometimes we end up making up to 15 percent of our yearly sales at book fairs like these,” he said.

The 10-day book fair will continue until April 23.