KOCHI: The 10-day Kochi International Book Festival, the biggest book fair in the State, will begin here on Friday with several new features, including an interactive session with renowned scientist Dr Hameed Khan, poets’ meet and literary debates.
The 19th edition of the annual book festival, to be held at Ernakulathappan Ground, will see numerous publishing houses like Penguin Books participating for the first time. The New Indian Express will have two stalls at the book festival, where all of its publications will be displayed. The stalls will also offer attractive schemes and discounts, besides a lucky-dip competition for visitors.
“This year’s fair will aim at creating a platform for writers as well as readers. Children’s Book Festival, seminars, book launches and ‘Varnotsavam’ arts and cultural programmes are the other events to be held,” said the organisers.
In addition to Penguin Books, leading publishing houses HarperCollins, Parragon Publications and Prison Books will also take part in the fair.
The Kochi International Book Festival will have 200 stalls. Apart from publishing houses, the Kalady Sanskrit University, Indira Gandhi Open University, Rashtra Sanskrit Sanstan University-New Delhi, Indira Gandhi Art and Science-New Delhi and the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS) will also take part in the festival. The main attraction of this year’s festival is an interactive session with Dr Hameed Khan, senior scientist at the National Institutes of Health-US who has made more than 200 anti-cancer drugs, and Dr V P Gangadharan on Saturday. Dr Vinod B Nair and Dr C P Thara will also be present in the session that is intended to spread cancer awareness. “The quality of the book festival has improved compared to the previous years,” said Kochi International Book Festival secretary E N Nandakumar. He said the organisers wanted the event to benefit the writers as more than 50 publishing houses are participating in it. “The Kochi International Book festival was launched in 1997 by the International Book Festival Association with the aim of spreading the joy of reading. The book festival is also a platform for discussions on major issues of contemporary significance. It will be the biggest and largest book festival the State has ever witnessed, in terms of quantity and quality,” added Nandakumar.
The Balamani Amma Awards, Best Publisher Award and Print and Visual Media Award will be presented at the book festival.
Award for Achuthan
Dr M Achuthan will be awarded the Balamani Amma Award on December 9 for his contributions to the Malayalam literary world. Jnanpith winner Pratibha Ray will present the award. Achuthan has excelled in almost all branches of Malayalam literature. His translation of Arab classics is regarded as the best available in Malayalam. The award carries a citation and a cheque of Rs 25,000.