Bangaloreans to satiate their appetite for books in the 10-day fest

The festivities just don’t end in the city. After all the fasting and feasting, the city will be presented with yet another treat from September 2—World of Books, 2011—touted to be an unprecedented book festival.

If the performance of large book festivals in the past is anything to go by, millions of books could be sold at this event where Indian and International publishers, bookstore chains and stores will spread their fare in 250 stalls.

Organisers say books worth more than `5 crore will be picked up by 700 educational institutions under Bangalore University along with the department of Public Libraries, University of Agricultural Sciences, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS), Bangalore University Library and others.

“Book a family day out” for this festival, says programme director BS Raghuram. There will be 80 stalls with Kannada books, 140 with English, about five to 10 stalls selling e-books, he informs.
In terms of scale, this is one of the largest book festivals that has been organised in the city.

“In terms of volume, we are talking five to six million books,” says Raghuram, who represents Indya Comics, which is partnering with Bangalore University to bring the fair to the city. The book fair—with more than 100 people managing the event—is not just about displaying endless titles on all kinds of subjects that interest book lovers, he points out.

“It is very contemporary too with stalls selling teaching aids, toys, multimedia presentations, various applications. There is something for everyone from grandchild to grandmother,” he says.

Although libraries—both new and old—are relevant and enjoy the patronage of Bangaloreans, fairs like this are attractive because books are not “prohibitively expensive”. Special fair discounts will give people more reasons to walk in, he says, adding that everyone, “from KG to PG”, will find something of their interest.

Considering that the young population is looking for skill enhancement, there will be workshops for students of all age groups.

Supported by the dept of Public Libraries, Raja Rammohan Roy Library Foundation, RGUHS, department of Agricultural Sciences, colleges affiliated to BU, it will go on for 10 days till September 11.