CHENNAI: The 50th edition of the Chennai Book Fair will be held from January 7 to 19 at the YMCA Grounds in Nandanam. The Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI) will organise the event. The logo and website for the golden jubilee edition were unveiled by Speaker JCD Prabhakar in Chennai on Friday.
Speaking at the event, BAPASI president RS Shanmugam said the state government has sanctioned Rs 1 crore as financial assistance to BAPASI for the golden jubilee edition, up from the Rs 75 lakh last year. The association has also planned several special initiatives, including inviting Nobel Prize-winning authors in literature to the fair.
Prabhakar said he has asked BAPASI to honour the three people who visit Chennai’s libraries the most. He also urged the association to conduct speech and writing competitions in schools to familiarise students with the book fair and said he would bear the cost of prizes for the competitions.
Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation chairman Mani said the corporation would donate 1,300 books for the proposed library. “I will also take the proposal to the CM to form a committee to select unpublished books and publish 1,000 of them,” he said.
The Chennai Book Fair was started in 1977 through the efforts of KV Mathew.
The 49th edition, held in January this year, drew around 20 lakh visitors, with about 50 lakh books sold across nearly 1,000 stalls.