The 16th DC International Book Fair will be inaugurated at Kanakakunnu Palace ground by Jnanpith awardee O N V Kurup at 5.30 pm on November 28. Tourism Minister A P Anilkumar will inaugurate the cultural festival.
In the book releasing ceremony that will follow, film maker Girish Kasaravally will release the collection of Adoor Gopalkrishnan’s film scripts: ‘Adoor Gopalakrishnante 11 Thirakathakal’, by handing over a copy to Mayor K Chandrika. Adoor Gopalakrishnan and C S Venkiteswaran will speak on the occasion. The function will be followed by a carnatic recital by Divya Subin.
More than 350 publishers from all over the world will participate in the fair, which will continue till December 11. This includes, among others Penguin, Random House, Harper Collins, MacMillan, Wiley, Scholastic, Cambridge University Press, Sage Publications, Pan Macmillan, Oxford University press, Harper Collins and Hachette. Books ranging from academic disciplines like medicine, engineering, management, law, social science etc to literature, history, arts, cookery and children’s books will be on display. The timings of the fair will be from 10 am to 9 pm with cultural events every evening.
On November 29 and 30, release of new books and new editions of best sellers will be held. ‘Kudiyante Kumbasaram’ (Confessions of a Drunkard), authored by Johnson, ‘Paachakarani’ introduces the different cuisines from the popular cookery show on Kairali TV, short story collections like P Kesavadev’s ‘Sarvarajyakozhikale Samghatikkuvin’, Chandramathi’s ‘Ratnakarante Bharya’, E Santhoshkumar’s ‘Kathakal’, B Murali’s ‘100 Kathakal’, Abraham Mathew’s ‘Indriyanagaram’, and M Chandraprakash’s ‘Puzha Malsyathil Ozhukumbol’ are among the books to be released.
Babu Kuzhimattom, T N Gopakumar, O V Usha, M R Rajan, P K Rajasekharan, Chandramathi, Unni R, G R Indugopan, Vinu Abraham, E Santhoshkumar, B Murali, Abraham Mathew, M Chandraprakash and P K Rajmohan will participate in the release functions.
In the Cultural Conference on December 1, Subrato Bagchi, co-founder of the IT Consulting Company ‘Mindtree’, and Susmita Bagchi, his wife and eminent Oriya litterateur, will take part. The Malayalam translation of two books authored by them (Go Kiss the World’ by Subrato Bagchi and ‘Children of a Better God’ by Susmita Bagchi) will be released. K M Chandrasekharan, G Vijayaraghavan, B Hridayakumari, C Balagopal and Sreenatha Sastri will attend. It will be followed by a bansuri recital by Sasi Pookad and Raveesh.
The autobiography of dubbing artist Bhagyalakshmi, titled ‘Svarabhedhangal’, will be released on December 2. Balachandran Chullikad, Sreekumaran Thampi, Siby Malayil, Suresh Kumar, Anandavalli, and Bhagyalakshmi will take part.
On December 3, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will release an anthology of cartoons on V S Achuthanandan titled ‘VS: Vara, Vari’. It will be followed by the release of U A Khader’s ‘Ormakalude Pagoda’. Culture Minister K C Joseph, U A Khader and Sudheernath will participate in the event. Tourism Minister AP Anilkumar will release ‘Magic Oven Fabulous Recipes’ authored by Lakshmi Nair. It will be followed by a violin recital by Adoor Sivaji.
December 4 wil have the release of two books - ‘Entharo Mahanubhavulu’, the autobiography of CP Nair and D Babu Paul’s anthology of essays ‘Babu Paulinte Lekhanangal’.V M Sudheeran, MG Radhakrishnan, Sugathakumari and C Gouridasan Nair will speak on the occasion.
‘Tagore Kathakal Sampoornam’, ‘Tagorinte Novalukal’, and ‘Tagore Kavithakal’, along with two poetry collections in translation ‘Rumiyude 101 Pranayageethangal’ and ‘Bashoyude Kavithakal’ wil be released on December 3. Labour Minister Shibu Baby John, Maniyanpilla Raju, B Sandhya and Krishnakumar will participate in the release function of ‘Priya Pachakam’ authored by Deepa Gopakumar at 6.30 pm . It will be followed by a sitar recital by Vinod Sankaran.
On December 6, in the release function to be chaired by ONV Kurup, the following books of poems will be released - ‘Kudathile Kadal’ (Sugathakumar), ‘Tirunallur Karunakarante Kavithakal’, ‘Poovu Tharamennetta Vasantham’ (Abdul Salam), ‘Neettezhuthu’ (Sampreetha), ‘Pen Piravi’ (Girija Pathekara), ‘Aanayude Valarthumrigamaanu Pappan’ (Vimish Maniyoor), ‘English Poocha’ (M R Anil Kumar) and ‘Kaithakattiloru Kavitha’ (Binish Puthupanam). Sugathakumari, M S Banesh, Sampreetha, Abdul Salam, Girija Pathekara, Vimish Maniyoor, M R Anilkumar and Binish Puthupanam will participate in the event.
On December 7, two books on cinema will be released - ‘Thilakan: Jeevitham, Anubhavam, Orma’ and ‘New Generation Cinema’ by Jose K Manuel. Siby Malayil, Shaji N Karun, Sreekumaran Thampi, Shammi Thilakan, Rakesh Pillai, Sidharth Siva, and Jose K Manual will participate. At 6.30 PM, there will be a cookery show by Noushad.
On December 8, the silver jubilee edition of M T Vasudevan Nair’s ‘Asuravithu’ will be released. Sashi Tharoor, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, will inaugurate www.dcbookshop.net
Books on music - Ajit Nambudiri’s ‘Melaragamritam’, Manoj Kuroor’s ‘Nirapakittarnna Nrithasangeetham’, and Ramesh Gopalakrishnan’s ‘Karnataka Sangeetham’ and ‘Janapriyasangeetham’ will be released on December 9. Books on and about spirituality - Risheeswaranmaarude Divyadarsanam by Sri M, and ‘Swami Rama: Jeevacharitram’ and ‘Munnilulla Jeevitam’ by Jiddu Krishnamurthy will be released at the Kanakakunnu Palace Hall on December 10. The Book Fair will conclude on December 11.