Chennai Book Fair: Books worth Rs 12 crore sold, 15 lakh footfall recorded

Speaking to indianexpress.com, BAPASI secretary SK Murugan said “books worth Rs 12 crore have been sold this time in the fair and despite missing the Pongal bus, we are happy with how things have progressed over the course of the last 18 days.”

“Last year, we had a footfall of around 10 lakh but this time it has been over 15 lakh. People had stayed indoors for a long time, they wanted to come out with friends and family, buy good books and have a good time. Students and other visitors flocked to the stalls in large numbers in the last few days. In all these years, the fair has never been held outside the Pongal window. But this time, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, we conducted the event in the February-March period and the sales have been very good,” he said.

Murugan added that they wanted to rectify the mistakes they had committed last time and hence implemented measures to provide clean restrooms and hygienic food stalls.

The event commenced on February 16 after being postponed a couple of times. The fair had nearly 800 stalls, including those set up to promote the state government’s ‘Illam Thedi Kalvi’ scheme.

“Modern literature, novels, autobiography, progressive writings, history books were sold in large numbers. Like every year, the readers bought the ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ collections in large numbers. Of the 800 stalls at the fair, at least 200 had Kalki’s classic novel. Many young prominent writers have sold their books in good numbers this time. A 19-year-old author from Dharmapuri had requested us to provide a mini stall. We spoke to her and provided her the space and she was happy that her books were bought by the readers…” he said.

He also said that the sale of books related to Dr BR Ambedkar has increased. Like people used to search for books related to Dravidian ideologue Periyar in earlier years, they are now attracted to works on and of Ambedkar, Murugan added.

The organisers said the state government used to provide around Rs 75 lakh every year for the book fair, but it gave them an additional Rs 50 lakh this time on account of losses suffered owing to the pandemic.

When asked whether they would increase the frequency of the annual fair, the organisers said they have pitched the idea to the government and were expecting a positive response.