Bangalore book festival beckons

Bangalore book festival beckons



Express News ServiceFirst Published : 06 Nov 2009 04:31:00 AM IST
BANGALORE: Bibliophiles, get ready for browsing and buying books as the seventh edition of Bangalore Book Festival (BBF) is back in the city.
BBF 2009 will begin at the Palace Grounds, Gayatri Vihar entrance, from November 6 and will conclude on November 15.
This was announced at a press conference on Thursday by BBF programme director B S Raghuram. He said that this year more than 200 book sellers and publishers from across India along with multinational publishing companies were participating.
“There will be over a million titles on display with 340 stalls. Out of these 94 stalls are for Kannada books. More than 2.5 lakh people are expected to visit the book festival and a business turnover of about Rs 15 crore is expected,” he said.
The fair will also host cultural evenings daily, book and title launches, inter-school and college competitions, besides felicitations to well-known writers, publishers and industry leaders. Adventure sports, fun games and quiz contests will also be held.
Raghuram informed that apart from Kannada and English books, the festival will feature Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam books, besides Islamic literature.
He said that spiritual organisations were also taking part in the book fair. Book sellers and publishers will offer a minimum discount of 10 per cent on books.
He said that the organisers were offering a special discount on stalls for Kannada book sellers and publishers to encourage them.
“For last year’s festival, the Kannada Book Authority had given a grant of Rs 3.25 lakh and this year we are expecting more grants from the as more number of Kannada booksellers and publishers are taking part in the fair,” Raghuram said.
Last year, 10 lakh books were sold with 1.5 lakh people visiting the book fair, of which 39,000 were students. The business turnover was Rs 10 crore, he said.
The entry fee for the festival, jointly organised by the Bangalore Book Sellers and Publishers Association and Klub Class, is Rs 20. For students entry is free. The timings of the festival are from 11 am to 8 pm on weekdays and on weekends, up to 8.30 pm.