Scores of stalls will greet bibliophiles at the 13th edition of the annual book fair conducted by Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI) at Tamukkam Grounds here.
The book fair will be held from August 31 to September 10. At least two lakh readers are expected to visit the fair.
“This year, we have a total of 256 stalls as opposed to 230 last year. We hope to capture the fancy of readers across age groups. We have a special section catering to students appearing for competitive examinations. A book for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), which was not available until today, will be available at the fair,” said A.R Venkatachalam, secretary of BAPASI.
There will be a total of 167 stalls displaying Tamil books, 74 for English and the remaining for miscellaneous languages and multi-mediums.
Work on installation of the stalls will be completed by Thursday.
Revenue Minister R.B. Udayakumar, District Collector S. Natarajan, Madurai North MLA V.V. Rajan Chellappa and MLA Madurai South S.S. Saravanan will preside over the inauguration function, Mr. Venkatachalam said at a press conference on Wednesday.
There will be close to one crore books displayed at the fair this year. Like the previous years, a minimum discount of 10% will be available on all of them. Individual sellers will have other attractive offers for customers, particularly colleges and school libraries, who purchase in bulk.
An ATM machine of City Union Bank will be placed at the fair.
In a bid to attract younger audiences, a special 10-foot statue of legendary poet Tiruvalluvar will be installed at the venue.
“The statue became a huge selfie spot at the Chennai Book Fair. We hope it invokes a similar response here,” said vice-president, BAPASI, P. Maila Velan.
Prolific speakers will address the audience each evening.
Drawing, painting, writing, speech and poetry competitions will be conducted for school and college students.
Entry to the fair is free for all visitors and the doors open at 11 a.m. A lucky draw with book coupons as prizes will be announced at the end of each day, Mr. Maila Velan added.
