Chennai: The highly popular Chennai Book Fair, which is usually held in Pongal holidays every year, has been postponed, in view of the ongoing pandemic.
The Book Sellers’ and Publishers’ Association of South India (BAPASI) has informed that this year’s expo is expected to be held in the coming months.
“We have submitted a petition in this regard to Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami seeking permission to conduct the 44th edition of the book fair, but have not received any consent from the government so far. We are yet to get an approval from the Disaster Management Department too. Once this is okayed, we are looking to conduct the fair in February or March,” it said.
The association also stated that to help readers tide over the lockdown, several publishers are conducting small-scale exhibitions in and around Chennai.
BAPASI secretary has reportedly met Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, urging him to grant permission for the book fair.
He is said to have cited the plight of about 420 members of the association, whose livelihood has been affected in the lockdown, and also added how the situation has put authors and publishers in a tight spot, as printing presses are not allowed to operate. This has led many sending PDF copies of their works to their peers.
The Chennai Book Fair, usually held in the month of January every year, attracts thousands of readers from across the city, for its large number of stalls offering several titles across languages.
Last year’s edition had over 800 stalls with 15 lakh titles, it may be noted.