CHENNAI: The annual book fair in the city, organised by the Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI), opened on Thursday. In its 35th edition, the fair will have 682 stalls covering six lakh titles.“From starting out with just 22 stalls in its first edition, the fair has now grown in size to accommodate more than 600 stalls. This shows that the book reading habit in the city is on the rise,” said Assembly Speaker D Jayakumar, who inaugurated the event. “Book sales to the tune of Rs 50 lakh were realised in the previous edition of the fair, and this could double in 2012.” As part of the event, five special awards were presented — the Azha Valliappa Memorial Award for the Best Children’s Writer to R Ponnammal, RK Narayan Award for Best English Translator to Dr Murugan, K Ganapathy Best Publisher Award to Vellayampattu Sundaram of Sekar Publishers, S Meyyappan Award for Best Book Seller to D Dhanasekar of Thirumalai Bookhouse, and Best Librarian Award to Palam Kalyanasundaram, a former librarian. Nalli Kuppuswamy Chetty was present. “With the state government’s help, we have been able to hold similar book exhibitions in Madurai and Coimbatore,” said RA Shanmugam, president of BAPASI. The book fair will be on at St George’s Anglo Indian School, opposite Pachaiyappa’s College, till January 17, between 3 pm and 9 pm on weekdays and 11 am and 9 pm on holidays.
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