Book fair begins

The third Ramanathapuram district book fair, re-christened as “Kalam Puthaga Thiruvizha” got off to a flying start here on Friday with more than 10,000 school students flocking the fair and the Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI) showcasing about two lakh books of varied subjects.

BAPASI, which was organising the fair jointly with the district administration and ‘Kalai Ilakkiya Arvalar Sangam,’ a local literary association, has put up 134 stalls displaying Tamil and English books on different subjects catering to students, children, elders and a wide range of readers.

“This year we have set up an exclusive stall in commemoration of former President A P J Abdul Kalam,” BAPASI President M Meenakshi Somasundaram said. Besides books authored by the former President, books written by different writers on Mr. Kalam were kept for sale, he said.

The 10-day-long book fair would be a huge success this year as the district administration and ‘Kalai Arvalar Sangam’ had created lot of awareness through cultural programmes, he said and exuded confidence of making a sale of over Rs. 2 crore.

Addressing after inaugurating the book fair, Minister for Sports and Youth Welfare S. Sundararaj said the book fair would go a long way in promoting the habit of reading among students and general public. In a tribute to Mr. Kalam, every household should set up a mini library, he said.

Collector K Nanthakumar said the success of the first two book fairs gave the impetus to the district administration to organise the third one this year. Appealing to the students to read books and share the joy of reading books with others, he said, “the fair was organised for students who are the future of the district.” The students should make the fair a grand success and ensure that it was organised every year.

Paying glowing tributes to Mr Kalam, local MP A. Anwar Raja exhorted students to devote at least an hour for reading books. J Sathakathullah, Reserve Bank of Indian (RBI) Regional Director, Chennai, Kalai Ilakkiya Aravalar Sangam President A Chinnadurai Abdullah and Secretary A R Vanthamizh Ilamparithi spoke. The book fair coincided with the herbal mela and traditional food festival to give an insight to the public about values of medicinal plants and benefits of traditional food items. A wide range of cultural programmes was organised.