Book world unveiled at Palace Grounds

Book world unveiled at Palace Grounds


Rastrakavi Shivarudrappa (centre) visiting the stalls after inaugurating the Bangalore Book Festival in Bangalore on Friday.

Express News ServiceFirst Published : 07 Nov 2009 03:32:06 AM ISTLast Updated : 07 Nov 2009 09:02:41 AM IST
BANGALORE: You name it, they have it. Bangalore Book Festival is back, catering to all sections of readers. The seventh edition of the festival organised by the Bangalore Book Sellers and Publishers Association, in association with Klub Class, was inaugurated by Rashtrakavi GS Shivarudrappa on Friday at Palace Grounds.
There are lakhs of books in over 350 stalls, with a variety of books in Kannada, English, Tamil and other Indian languages. There are specialised stalls on Kannada classics, folk tales, Indian epics, software engineering, meditation, health, animation and for women and children. Besides, there are electronic gadget accessories, CDs and DVDs at the stalls. More than 200 book sellers and publishers from different parts of India, along with multinational publishing companies are participating. Many of these books are available on discount.
Over two lakh people are expected to visit the fair and a turnover of about Rs 15 crore is expected, says BS Raghuram, programme director.
FLIPPING THROUGH
● Nov 7: Ballet by students of Ramana Maharshi School for the Blind ● Nov 8: Poet’s meet ● Nov 9: Magic show by Kadaba Srinivas ● Nov 10: Clarionet music by Narasimhalu Vadavatti ● Nov 11: Play by Karnataka Nataka Academy troupe ● Nov 12: Light music ● Nov 13: Carnatic music ● Nov 14: Humour fest
MAKE KANNADA COMPULSORY IN EDUCATION: SHIVARUDRAPPA
BANGALORE: Rashtrakavi GS Shivarudrappa said that Kannada should be made compulsory in education. He was speaking after inaugurating the seventh edition of Bangalore Book Festival on Friday. GSS said people had a blind love towards English. Hence, they read less Kannada books.
“If Kannada is made a must in education, the number of readers of Kannada books will increase,” he said. He said there were writers emerging from all sections of society, which was a good sign.
The poet said it was believed that with the anvil of the electronic media, the number of book readers would go down. “But, it has not affected the book lovers,” he said.
Secretary to Department of Kannada and Culture Jayaramaraje Urs, said there was a section of society which wanted to read good books.