Chennai Book Fair attracts one lakh plus visitors

The book fair which saw a footfall of more than a lakh through the 13 days was set across two lakh square feet and featured 777 wide-ranged stalls selling books in various languages and subjects.

“Constituting almost 80 per cent of the 30 lakh books sold worth 15 crore at the annual event were Tamil books,” said K S Pugazhendhi, secretary, Booksellers And Publishers Association of South India.

With the Tamil publishing scene popularly opined to be in deep trouble in recent times and Tamil books accounting for as low as 20 per cent of sales seven years back, the trend this year is a step in the right direction.

“The usual trend of cook books and astrology books having  significant share of sales was bucked and interestingly fiction saw a jump from a meager 2% to 10% in sales” Pugazhendhi added.

The fair also included several competitions for children and also a short film festival as part of the proceedings.

Book launches and lectures by eminent personalities were held daily as added attraction.