Chennai book fair ends on a high note

Gandhi Kannadasan, president, BAPASI, said that the book fair was a grand success.  He pointed, “This year, we had 700 stalls. Three lakh more people visited the fair than last year, which had a footfall of 9 lakh. Though we expected a turnover of Rs 15 crore, this year’s turnover is still good considering the demonetisation and jallikattu protests. Youth are regulars at the fair. As they were involved in protests we missed their presence at the fair,” he said. 

The surprise element for this year’s edition was rise in the number of children. “More than 20 per cent of the stalls were dedicated to children’s books and multimedia tools. We distributed seven lakh tickets to schools and colleges. This drew a lot of children and youth to the fair along with their parents,” he added. Venkatesh K, a copy editor, said he liked this edition of the fair and it was better than last year. 

“Last year’s fair began late and the location was not convenient. This year’s edition was way better. It was a success despite demonetisation. I didn’t have cash on hand. When I went to the BAPASI office at the fair, I swiped my card for Rs 1000 and was issued coupons for Rs 100, which I exchanged to buy books. 

This was very helpful and I didn’t feel the cash crunch at all. I also liked the speaking sessions in the evenings. I enjoyed the session by DMK’s Tamilan Prasanna and by Prof. R Kamaraj from Tamil University in Tanjore,” he said, adding that his favourite purchase was a coffee table book on Rashtrapati Bhavan, which now adorns his treasured collection in his home library. 

SR Venkat, Deputy Director of Max Academy, which had been regularly having a stall at the book fair, said they saw a larger number of people asking for Tamil books. “It is becoming an increasingly Tamil book fair. There are more crowds in stalls selling academic books than general reading material,” he said. However, Senthil Kumar S of Kizhakku Pathippagam, said, “Our sales have been good.”