Hitting the books: Chennai fest to receive over 15L footfalls

CHENNAI: It has been almost a week since Chennai Book Fair opened and footfalls have gone up this year too. The organisers - the BookSellers and Publishers Association of South India (Bapasi) - expects the footfall to exceed 15 lakh this year.

The organisers have offered over 7 to 8 lakh free tickets to schools, colleges and institutions to attract more students and to encourage the reading habit among youngsters. The previous book fair saw a record sale of books worth Rs. 18 crore, while the 2018 fair registered Rs.15 crore sales. "This year, we expect the receipts from book sales to exceed Rs.20 crore," R.S. Shanumuagam, president, Bapasi, said. The 13-day book fair will go on till January 21 at YMCA Grounds, Nandanam.

 Apart from targeting the bibliophiles, the organizers have also introduced entertainment and informative events such as short-film screening, reading competition for students and a Writer's Corner to attract a diverse range of audiences.

 Touted to be one of Asia's largest retail book fair, the 43rd Chennai Book Fair has over 2  crore books on wide-ranging subjects on display under a single roof. It has about 800 stalls and 15 lakh titles.

 "It is pretty easy to explore numerous books at one place instead of painstakingly browsing them online. Also, we get to know that there scores like us who prefer to visit the stalls and buy books in dozens," says Subramaniam a repeat visitor to the fair.

 Another visitor Shymala is rather keen on inculcating reading habit in her son and prefers books that substantially have pictorial representation.

 On Saturday, thousands of book lovers visited the fair. IAS officers V. Thirppugazh and V. Iraianbu gave a special address on "En Vasippu Ulagam" and  "Manitharkalai Vasikkiren" respectively, in the evening. Vairavan, former president of Bapasi and Suresh, executive member of Bapasi spoke. Well-known writers introduced books in the event "Eluthalar Mutram." This event connects writers - readers - publishers. Writers Krishna and Gayathri introduced the creations of writers Balakumaran and Charu Nivedita today. Zoo, Glass, Neighbours, La Jetee are few short films screened for the visitors on the occasion. Short Films will be screened on all days of Book Fair at the Short Film auditorium.

 On Sunday at the "Eluthalar Mutram" auditorium the creations of writers Sa. Kanthasamy and Vannanilavan will be introduced at 6 pm. Short films: The Shark Caller of Kontu, Junior High School will be screened at 6 pm at the Eluthalar Mutram auditorium.