Date:07/01/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/01/07/stories/2005010715240300.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Chennai book fair kicks off today

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, JAN. 6 . One of the city's most anticipated events, the Chennai book fair, will kick off at the familiar Quaid-e-Millet College grounds off Anna Salai from January 7.

The 28th edition of the fair, organised by the Book Sellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI), will be `bigger and better' than the previous year's event. There will be 250 participants, including Tamil book publishers, and 348 stalls set up in the college grounds. The entry fee for persons above 12 years is Rs. 5. Entry is free for children below 12.

Since it was established in 1982 at the Madrasa-I-Azam School in Anna Salai, the book fair has become a significant calendar event for the city. Apart from providing the opportunity to thumb through the latest books, there are also special competitions for children.

President of BAPASI R. Muthukumara Swamy said this year's fair would showcase character recognition software, which would be of interest to all publishers. "The software will make it easy for re-publication of old books. The speciality of the software is that it also recognises Tamil fonts."

This year too, the 10-day fair has several special events: A speech competition for college students and a drawing competition for children aged 6 to 12. The best publishers and writers selected by BAPASI will be felicitated during the fair.

Justice M. Karpagavinayagam and Madras University Vice-Chancellor S.P. Thiagarajan will participate in the inaugural function.