Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam   

Book exhibition drawing huge crowds

Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam

Wide range: Visitors going through the books on display at the 9th Book Festival at the Turner’s Choultry in Visakhapatnam. —

VISAKHAPATNAM: Who says book reading is on the wane? The reading habit is returning, and going by the current trend it may stage a comeback like the radio. The growing popularity of various book exhibitions held in the city despite the onslaught of electronic media indicates that the books and printed words are here to stay.

The 9th Visakha Book Festival, being organised by the Visalaandhra Book House, at the Turner’s Choultry is drawing book lovers of all age groups. The interesting point to note is that the visitors are spending a great deal of time to select the book of their choice from the thousands of books on display.

The collector’s edition of Chandamama (English) “Celebrating 60 wonderful years” was a big draw at the expo. ‘Balala Bommala Bharatamu’, a wide range of Telugu novels by various authors, books on personality development, Vedic Mathematics, film actors, singers, ‘Pedha Bala Shiksha’, travel, cookery, dictionaries, computers, Ayurveda, child care, leaders of national and international fame and books by educationist Chukka Ramaiah are some of the titles to name a few.

“Fiction is regaining patronage. Readers, who were only interested in personality development and career-oriented books in the past, are now looking beyond those books. Even youths are reading fiction and it’s a healthy trend,” says the manager of Visalaandhra Book House P. Yogi.

“Reading fiction gives an understanding of the contemporary social issues besides increasing social awareness and responsibility towards society. The number of new writers is also growing that indicates the growing patronage. ‘Draksharamam Kadhalu’ by a new writer is selling like hot cakes,” he says.

Software professionals who sit for long hours in front of computer screens are finding books as a better option to chill out. Some of the Telugu publications on display include those by HBT, Gita Press, Ramakrishna Mission, Visalaandhra, Peacock and Haasam and the English books include those by Rupa, Penguin, East West, Allied, Jaico, Sura, New Light, Navneet, Cambridge, Orient and Vasan. The festival will be on till November 23.

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