The stage is all set for the Vijayawada Book Festival to celebrate its silver jubilee year from Wednesday.
Tamil Nadu Governor and former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Konejeti Rosaiah will be the chief guest of the Vijayawada Book Festival silver jubilee book fair valedictory to be held on January 11.
Addressing a press conference at Swaraj Maidan, the venue of the book festival the VBF Society president D. Ashok Kumar on Tuesday said that 300 book-sellers, publishers and others related to the book trade had been allotted stalls in the fair.
Minister for Secondary Education and Excise Kolusu Parthasarathy, District Collector M.Raghunandana Rao and National Book Trust director M.A.Sikander would be on the dais along with the Tamil Nadu Governor at the valedictory, he said.
Despite efforts to restrict the number of participants every year the number was growing, Mr. Ashok Kumar said. This year too attempts to restrict number to 250 participants were foiled with book-sellers and publishers being very keen on participating during the silver jubilee year.
The venue was named after Hyderabad Book Trust founder Challa Krishna Narayana Reddy who passed away in September 2013. The inauguration of the 25 book festival would be followed by a meeting held in the memory of Narayana Reddy. Noted translator M.V.Ramana Reddy will speak about the life and works of the man.
Several special programmes are going to be organised for children at a separate dais named after Uncle Pai, the founder of Amarchitra Katha, the book festival society and the National Council for the Children’s Literature.
Other office-bearers R. Rama Swamy, M.V. Narayana, K. Ravi, A. Rama Mohan Rao, B. Babjee, B. Ravi Kumar and J. Srinivas were present.
