Stalin inaugurates Chennai Book Fair

Chennai, Jan 6 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin today inaugurated the 46th Chennai Book Fair and presented the Kalaignar Porkizhi and BAPASI awards at the YMCA grounds here on Friday. At the inauguration, Stalin also presented the 100the Kalaignar Porkizhi award. The book fair will be held from 11 am to 8.30 pm from tomorrow till January 22. Book Sellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI)
President S Vairavan and Secretary SK Murugan told media that 1,000 book stalls will be set up this year, on members’ requests, as against the usual 800. Stalls for children will also be allotted. The guild invited schools and colleges to visit the fair and place bulk orders.
There will be a hall containing children’s books in one area of it. This year, bookshops and publishers from all around India and abroad are participating. “We have also planned to set up 100 mini-racks,” Murugan said.
He said that the book fair will be conducted in full swing this year after the COVID induced pandemic during the last twp years . BAPASi is expecting a record footfall of 50 lakhs this year, which is also the biggest in terms of size and stalls and participation. The Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation, the World Tamil Research Center, Sahitya Akademi, the National Book Trust Publication Division, Thanjavur Tamil University, ‘Illam Thedi Kalvi’, and the Archeology Department will participate in the fair.Chennai will also host the first ever international book fair at the venue by the School Education Department, from January 16 to 18 during the event.
Publishers and booksellers from nearly 40 countries including Singapore and Sri Lanka will set up stalls.Stalin also presented Kalaignar Porkizhi Award and BAPASI awards. The Kalaignar Porkizhi awards, named after late TN Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi, who has a special love and affection for Tamil language and literature, were presented to Devi Bharathi (Novel), Chandra Thangaraj (Short Stories), Devedeven Quotes), C Mohan (Translation) and Piralayan (Drama). The recipients of BAPASI awards are M Pattazhagan, K Rathina Sababathi, Deepak Mathiyalagan, Devi Natchiyappan, S Thirugnasampantham, Indumathi, Aisha R Nadarajan, Vivek (Cinema Lyricist) and Mervin.