The ninth edition of the annual Madurai Book Fair, organised by Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI), will begin at the Tamukkam Grounds here on August 29.
It will be inaugurated at 6 p.m. on Friday and open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. from August 30 to September 7.
Addressing a press conference, BAPASI president Meenakshi Somasundaram said there would be 228 stalls with fiction and non-fiction books in Tamil and English displayed for sale.
BAPASI secretary K.S. Pugalendi said last year’s edition of the fair in the city had received an overwhelming response and books worth more than Rs.2 crore were sold during the expo.
“We had received enquiries from many more publishers who wanted to put up stalls here this year, but due to space constraints we have been able to accommodate only 10 additional stalls,” he said. Commenting on the changing trends in the market, Mr. Pugalendi said the demand for serious literature had been slowly but steadily increasing.
“Cookbooks and motivational books used to be the most preferred books at the fair earlier, but more youngsters have now become serious about reading. Despite various distractions such as internet, there has been a gradual increase in the number of people wanting to read and explore new writing,” he said.
The organisers said the district administration had lent them support by arranging drinking water and sanitation facilities at the venue for the public.
Special visits had been arranged for students from various city schools to the fair, and every evening, there would be competitions and cultural programmes scheduled, the organisers added.
