Chennai: Ending weeks of speculation, it has been announced that the annual Chennai Book Fair will be held from 24 February till 9 March at the YMCA grounds.
According to the Book Sellers’ and Publishers’ Association of South India (BAPASI), that conducts the event every year, the exhibition’s timings are from 11 am- 8 pm.
It has been reported that this time, the fair will be held with all Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) related to Covid-19 in place, including wider pathways and better crowd management. The ticketing system will however remain the same.
It may be noted that the highly popular event, which is usually held in January’s Pongal holidays every year, had been postponed, in view of the ongoing pandemic.
BAPASI had earlier informed that it had submitted a petition to Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami seeking permission to conduct the 44th edition of the book fair, and that it was awaiting consent from the government, including the Disaster Management Department.
The association also stated that to help readers tide over the lockdown, several publishers had been conducting small-scale exhibitions in and around Chennai.
BAPASI secretary who reportedly had met Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, urging him to grant permission for the book fair, was 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 were not allowed to operate. This had 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.