CHENNAI: This year’s book fair, which ended on Monday, had about 12 lakh footfalls, at least 71 per cent more than last year, according to the organisers.
While last year, nearly seven lakh people visited the Chennai Book Fair, this year the fair saw a substantial increase bringing smiles on the faces of the publishers and organisers.
Of the 12 lakh visitors, four lakh were students from schools and colleges across the state, said Rama Lakshmanan, Secretary of 34th Chennai Book Fair.
This year, the publishers sold nearly 30 lakh books from 10 lakh titles whereas, the tally last year was nearly 21 lakh books. Consequently, the revenue generated this year too has seen a substantial increase — from Rs 6 crore last year, the revenue this year increased to Rs 8 crore.
“Books of Upkar Prakashan (publisher), Uttar Pradesh were sold out even before the end of the event and in fact most of the publishers from New Delhi were able to sell all the books they brought,” said Rama. He said nearly 40 per cent of the publishers were able to sell their entire collection of books. “The figures would certainly go up next year as we faced some hurdles in organising the book fair this year,” he added.
As expected, Tamil publishing houses had more takers this year compared to English publishers, as nearly 60 per cent of the books sold were Tamil books, said Shanmuga Nathan, Joint Secretary of the book fair.
The 14-day fair had 646 stalls put up by 375 publishers this year. Last year, there were only 600 stalls. Publishers from New Delhi, Agra, Hyderabad, Bangalore and various parts of Tamil Nadu participated in the fair.
Chennai Book Fair is an annual event organised by the Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI). It is also one of the biggest book fairs in the country with many major publishers of India participating in it. The first Madras Book Fair was organised in 1977 by the BAPASI.