The infrastructure of the Coimbatore Book Fair this year will be better than any other book fair held earlier in the State, B. Vijayanand, chairman of Coimbatore Book Festival, said here on Tuesday.
Ahead of the inauguration of Coimbatore Book Festival on Friday, Mr. Vijayanand told presspersons here on Tuesday that the book festival is an attempt to take the reading habit to the youngsters. R. Ramamurthy, president of Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (CODISSIA), said the present generation must shift to the habit of reading, which had declined among today's youth due to social media.
The CODISSIA will organise the fifth edition of its annual book fair in association with Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI) at the CODISSIA Trade Fair Complex from July 19 to 28. District Collector K. Rajamani will inaugurate the event on Friday, according to a press release.
Poet Kavidasan said that this year, an exclusive event for employees will be held at the book fair. Essay writing, elocution and debate competitions exclusively for employees will be conducted on July 27, he said.
On July 21, Tamil author Vannanilavan will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award with a cash prize of ₹ 1 lakh and a certificate. On the previous day, young writers Guna Kandasamy (fiction), Solai Mayavan (poetry) and G. Gurusamy (non-fiction) will be honoured for their works, the release said.
About 250 book stalls from more than 150 publishers across the country will be put up at the fair this year. The 10-day programme will have several events such as lectures, kavi arangam, distribution of books to government school libraries, and book releases. Entry is free of cost and the expo will be open between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. Sales worth ₹ 3.5 crore is expected this year, according to the release.
