Tamil Nadu to Hold International Book Fair in January

on Nov 04, 2022

According to School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, the Tamil Nadu government has plans to hold an international book expo in Chennai in January 2023 along the lines of the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany.

He said that the book fair will take place at the same location as Chennai's yearly book fair and would run concurrently. "Like the recently concluded Chess Olympiad, the international book fair will highlight Tamil Nadu across the world. The dates of the event will soon be revealed, and we will ask publishers from other States to attend," Mr. Mahesh stated.

K. Elambahavath, Director of Public Libraries, Dr. Sankara Saravanan, Joint Director of Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation, and two members of the Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI) traveled to Frankfurt, Germany, where the book fair has been held for the past 570 years.

"They took part and saw how the book fair was run. The Minister stated on Thursday that the goal of the book fair we will have is to trade rights for translating books from other languages into Tamil and Tamil novels into other languages.

For the benefit of the book fair, Mr. Sankara Sarvanan stated that an international pavilion will be erected to allow the involvement of government Ministries and publishers from many nations. Government representatives and leading publishers from various nations were anticipated to attend the international book expo.

"Only three days will be dedicated to the international event. The first two days will be devoted to business-to-business meetings during which translation contracts will be signed. The final days will be accessible to shoppers. The stalls will be run by our volunteers after the three days, and the books will be donated to public libraries, he stated.

One country in particular, where a high number of Tamils reside, would get the state honor during the book fair. Similarly to that, an Indian State would likewise receive the honor. Mr. Sankara Saravanan stated, "We will ask authors and publishers to participate in the event."