Date:26/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/26/stories/2008112658220200.htm

Tamil Nadu - Madurai

Book fair begins tomorrow

Staff Reporter

MADURAI: Seminars, debates, poetry sessions, cultural programmes, essay, elocution and painting competitions and film screening will be part of the third edition of the Madurai Book Fair, which commences at Tamukkam Grounds on November 27.

The ten-day fair is being organised by the district administration and the Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI).

Briefing presspersons here on Tuesday, R. S. Shanmugam, secretary, BAPASI, said that 50 lakh books covering one lakh titles would be available for sale in 200 stalls. Publishers of children’s books like Prodigy, Scholastic, National Book Trust, Spider Books and major publishing houses like Macmillan, Penguin and Oxford University Press would participate in the fair, he said.

He said that the book fair’s objective was to bring all kinds of books under one roof and promote reading habit among the people for which arrangements had been made to bring readers from all southern districts.

To showcase the history and development of painting in Madurai at different stages, a gallery, called ‘Painting through Ages,’ would be set up at the ‘Naan Mada Koodal’ auditorium. Special buses would be operated to the venue of the book fair for the convenience of visitors.

Ten per cent discount is available on all titles at the fair which will be open from 11.30 a.m. till 9 p.m.