KOCHI: The 21st edition of the Kochi International Book Festival will get under way at the Ernakulathappan Ground here on Friday. Union Minister Anand Kumar Hegde will inaugurate the event while Raghuvir Chaudhary will be the chief guest. The inauguration will take place at the main stage at Ernakulathappan Ground at 4.30 pm .The festival which will host around 300 publishers, 200 writers , Central and state Ministers and educationalist will be a 10-day event which will conclude on 10 December.
The publishers' pavilion will feature Penguin, Macmillan , Jaico, Westland, NBT, Geetha Press, Kendra Sahitya Akademi, Lalitha Kala Akademi along with media stalls. The Kochi Literature Fest will take place from December 6 -December 10 as part of this.The associated programmes will be held in four stages. Ernakulathappan Ground has two stages and the other two will be at the BTH College and St Teresa's College here. The event will be attended by writers from different languages as well as artists and politicians.