CHENNAI: The 41st Chennai Book Fair 2018 is scheduled to commence on January 10 and will be inaugurated by the Minister for School Education K A Sengottaiyan. The event will have Nalli Kuppusamy Chetti and MAMR Muthaiah participate as chief guests.
The 10-day book fair will be held at St George Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School grounds at Aminjikarai in the city between 11 am and 9 pm on the holidays and from 2 pm to 9 pm on week days.
All books purchased will be entitled to a 10 per cent discount and the entrance fee has been fixed at `10.
As a precursor to the annual event, around 2,000 school students will participate in an event titled ‘Chennai Reads’ on Monday when the children will be given books and made to read a little, in a bid to inculcate the habit of reading in them from an early age.
“The 41st Chennai Book Fair 2018, is a mega event that is eagerly awaited not only by the people in Tamil Nadu, but also by Tamilians living throughout the globe,” said president Vairavan and treasurer Venkatachalam of BAPASI.
The fair will have 376 participants (Tamil 236, English 102, Multimedia 14, General 24) and 708 stalls. The special features include separate stalls for the blind and environment and pollution control. The participants include Sahitya Academy, University of Madras, World Tamil Research Institute, National Book Trust (NBT), Classical Tamil Research Institute, Publications Division (Information), Thanjavur Saraswathi Mahal, Tamil Nadu Text Book Society, Gandhian Literature Society and so on.
A statue of saint-poet Thiruvalluvar will be inaugurated in the campus by the Minister for Tamil Development Ma Foi Pandiarajan on Thursday at 4pm. VGP Santhosham and Vijayaraghavan will be the chief guests at the function.