Chennai Book Fair
Encyclopedia
Chennai Book Fair or Madras Book Fair is an annual book fair organized in the Chennai
, India
by the Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI). The fair typically lasts for about 10 days during the New Year
-Pongal
season. The fair is usually held between the last week of December and the third week of January.
The Chennai Book Fair is one of the biggest book fairs in the country with almost all major publishers of India participating in it. Some of the regular participants include Oxford University Press
, Cambridge University Press
, Pustak Mahal
, Higginbotham's
, Orient Longman
, Macmillan Publishers
, Tata McGraw-Hill
, S. Chand and Co., India Book House
, British Council
, The Hindu
and Asian Educational Services
and Major Tamil Book Publishing Houses are Saiva Siddantha Kazhagam Publishing House,Tamil Puthgalayam,Paari Nilayam,Vanathi Pathippagam, Thirumagal Nialayam,Ainthinai Pathippagam,The Alliance, Prema Pirasuram, Narmadha Pathippagam, Nakkeran Pathippagam, Sura Books, Kavitha Pathippagam, Uma Pathippagam, Sri Indu Publications, Poongodi Pathippagam, Kaalachuvadu, Bharathi Puthkalayam, Kannadasan Pathippagam,Arunodhayam, Palaniappa Publication, Sree Shenbaga Pathippagam, Periyar Self Respect, Sri Ramakrishna Matt, ISCKON, Thamarai Noolagam, Universal Publisher etc., . The 2009 fair had over 600 stalls representing most major publishing companies in India and was held between January 8 and January 18, 2009.
The Chennai Book Fair is considered to be one of the biggest events in the Chennai cultural calendar along with the Chennai music season.
The first four editions of the book fair were held in the Madrasa-I-Azam school. In 1981, the book fair moved to the YMCA grounds in Royapettah
, Chennai
. The 1982 edition was organized at the Drive-In restaurant. The book fairs gradually rose in popularity. At the 12th Madras Book Fair held between December 22, 1989 and January 1, 1990, Tamil translations of WHO
publications were put on sale. The success of the Chennai Book Fair prompted BAPASI to start similar book fairs at Udagamandalam, Thiruvananthapuram
, Pondicherry and Tiruchirapalli
.
The early editions were held in the last weeks of December and ended in the first week of January in order to coincide with the Christmas
-New Year
holidays. However, in the late nineties, the fair was moved to mid-January to coincide with the Pongal
festive season.
. The 2007 book fair had a total of 474 stalls. and for the first time, featured works of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi
, on an extensive scale. Over 600,000 people visited the 30th book fair.
Abdul Kalam
on January 8, 2009. and lasted ten days. The 2009 edition had over 600 stalls and was attended by over one million people, amongst whom were Chennai historian S. Muthiah
, businessman Nalli Kuppuswami Chetty and Gnani
. Second-hand pavement shops outside the fair also did a good business. Book publishers made a cumulative sale of approximately rupees 7 crores.
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
by the Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI). The fair typically lasts for about 10 days during the New Year
New Year
The New Year is the day that marks the time of the beginning of a new calendar year, and is the day on which the year count of the specific calendar used is incremented. For many cultures, the event is celebrated in some manner....
-Pongal
Pongal
Thai Ponggal is a harvest festival celebrated by Tamils in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Indian Union Territory of Pondicherry and in Sri Lanka. Pongal coincides with the festival Makara Sankranthi celebrated throughout India. Pongal in Tamil means "boiling over" or "spill over". The boiling...
season. The fair is usually held between the last week of December and the third week of January.
The Chennai Book Fair is one of the biggest book fairs in the country with almost all major publishers of India participating in it. Some of the regular participants include Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
, Pustak Mahal
Pustak Mahal
Pustak Mahal is one of the largest publishers in India. Their work includes English speaking courses, story and puzzle books, school/university course books etc. Their books are displayed in national and state book fairs....
, Higginbotham's
Higginbotham's
The Higginbotham's is an Indian company of book sellers and publishers based in the city of Chennai. The main bookstore at Mount Road, Chennai has the reputation of being India's oldest bookshop in existence.- History :...
, Orient Longman
Orient Longman
Orient Blackswan , is an Indian publishing house headquartered in Andhra Pradesh....
, Macmillan Publishers
Macmillan Publishers
Macmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others.-History:...
, Tata McGraw-Hill
Tata Mcgraw-Hill
Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company is the Indian subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies.It is the joint venture between the Tata Group and McGraw-Hill Companies. The core activities of TMH are the publishing, reprinting, and marketing of McGraw-Hill books. It is the market leader of India's...
, S. Chand and Co., India Book House
India Book House
India Book House Pvt. Limited is an importer, distributor and publisher of books and magazines in India.Formed in 1952, India Book House published paperback editions of children's authors such as Enid Blyton and Frederick Forsyth, as well as magazines such as Tintin and Asterix, often in Indian...
, British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
, The Hindu
The Hindu
The Hindu is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded and continuously published in Chennai since 1878. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1.46 million copies as of December 2009. The enterprise employed over 1,600 workers and gross income reached $40...
and Asian Educational Services
Asian Educational Services
Asian Educational Services is a New Delhi, India-based publishing house that specialises in antiquarian reprints of books that were originally published between the 17th and early 20th centuries...
and Major Tamil Book Publishing Houses are Saiva Siddantha Kazhagam Publishing House,Tamil Puthgalayam,Paari Nilayam,Vanathi Pathippagam, Thirumagal Nialayam,Ainthinai Pathippagam,The Alliance, Prema Pirasuram, Narmadha Pathippagam, Nakkeran Pathippagam, Sura Books, Kavitha Pathippagam, Uma Pathippagam, Sri Indu Publications, Poongodi Pathippagam, Kaalachuvadu, Bharathi Puthkalayam, Kannadasan Pathippagam,Arunodhayam, Palaniappa Publication, Sree Shenbaga Pathippagam, Periyar Self Respect, Sri Ramakrishna Matt, ISCKON, Thamarai Noolagam, Universal Publisher etc., . The 2009 fair had over 600 stalls representing most major publishing companies in India and was held between January 8 and January 18, 2009.
The Chennai Book Fair is considered to be one of the biggest events in the Chennai cultural calendar along with the Chennai music season.
History
The 1st Madras Book Fair was organized in Madras between December 14 and December 24, 1977 by The Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India(BAPASI), an association with major publishing companies of Tamil Nadu especially Madras & South India. The 1st Madras Book Fair had 22 stalls and was held at the Madrasa-I-Azam school. The first six book fairs were successful mainly due to the efforts of K. V. Mathew of BI Publications who was responsible for the growth of the book fair in its early years. Mr.Mathew has also organized an annual book fair for students. The Student Book Fair, however, hasn't been as successful as the Chennai Book Fair.The first four editions of the book fair were held in the Madrasa-I-Azam school. In 1981, the book fair moved to the YMCA grounds in Royapettah
Royapettah
Royapettah is a centrally located suburb in the city of Chennai, India. It is situated to the west of the famous Marina Beach of Chennai. The locality features one of the developed commercial centres lying adjacent to the Chennai city center....
, Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
. The 1982 edition was organized at the Drive-In restaurant. The book fairs gradually rose in popularity. At the 12th Madras Book Fair held between December 22, 1989 and January 1, 1990, Tamil translations of WHO
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
publications were put on sale. The success of the Chennai Book Fair prompted BAPASI to start similar book fairs at Udagamandalam, Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram , formerly known as Trivandrum, is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala and the headquarters of the Thiruvananthapuram District. It is located on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland...
, Pondicherry and Tiruchirapalli
Tiruchirapalli
Tiruchirappalli ) , also called Tiruchi or Trichy , is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli District. It is the fourth largest municipal corporation in Tamil Nadu and also the fourth largest urban agglomeration in the state...
.
The early editions were held in the last weeks of December and ended in the first week of January in order to coincide with the Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
-New Year
New Year
The New Year is the day that marks the time of the beginning of a new calendar year, and is the day on which the year count of the specific calendar used is incremented. For many cultures, the event is celebrated in some manner....
holidays. However, in the late nineties, the fair was moved to mid-January to coincide with the Pongal
Pongal
Thai Ponggal is a harvest festival celebrated by Tamils in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Indian Union Territory of Pondicherry and in Sri Lanka. Pongal coincides with the festival Makara Sankranthi celebrated throughout India. Pongal in Tamil means "boiling over" or "spill over". The boiling...
festive season.
Recent editions
The 24th Chennai Book Fair experienced a spurt in the number of Tamil language publishers the majao role played by the then President Chandrasekar Higginbothams, Secretary Alliance Sreenivasan and the then committee members. Of the 180 publication houses who participated in the book fair, 80 were Tamil publication houses, a remarkable increase since the 23rd fair in which there was only one stall devoted to Tamil publications. The book fair celebrated its silver jubilee in 2002 coinciding with the 50th anniversary celebrations of BAPASI. The fair was held for 15 days instead of the usual 11-day affair. The 26th book fair was held between January 9 and January 19, 2003 and had a total of about 272 stalls. 300,000 people visited the 26th book fair. The revenue was estimated to over Rs. 6 crores. The 27th book fair, inaugurated by the then Tamil Nadu Education Minister N. Semmalai and held between January 9 and January 19, 2004, had over 310 stalls, including 10 stalls allotted for state government departments, with over 200 publishers from all over India participating in it. The 28th book fair was inaugurated by Chennai mayor S. P. Thiagarajan on January 7, 2005. The 29th book fair was inaugurated on January 6, 2006 by K. Kalimthu, Speaker of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and was made of 375 stalls. The fair lasted till the 16th of January. In 2007, due to traffic congestion and the need for more space for the stalls, the venue for the annual book fair was changed from Quaid-e-Milleth Women's College to St. George' School in KilpaukKilpauk
Kilpauk is a small commercial township located in Chennai, the capital city of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The distance from Chennai's city center to Kilpauk is about 6 km. The region is situated off the Ponamallee High Road in the west. Adjacent suburbs of Kilpauk include Chetpet, Egmore,...
. The 2007 book fair had a total of 474 stalls. and for the first time, featured works of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi
M. Karunanidhi
Muthuvel Karunanidhi is an Indian politician and a former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. He is the head of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam , a Dravidian political party in the state of Tamil Nadu. He has been the leader of the DMK since the death of its founder, C. N...
, on an extensive scale. Over 600,000 people visited the 30th book fair.
32nd Chennai Book Fair, 2009
The 32nd Chennai Book Fair was inaugurated at St George's Anglo-Indian School, Poonamallee High Road, Chennai by former President of IndiaPresident of India
The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India, as well as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. President of India is also the formal head of all the three branches of Indian Democracy - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary...
Abdul Kalam
Abdul Kalam
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam usually referred to as A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, is a renowned aerospace engineer, professor , and first Chancellor of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology Thiruvananthapuram , who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007...
on January 8, 2009. and lasted ten days. The 2009 edition had over 600 stalls and was attended by over one million people, amongst whom were Chennai historian S. Muthiah
S. Muthiah
Subbiah Muthiah, MBE , is an Indian journalist and amateur historian known for his works on the political and cultural history of Chennai city.He is a regular columnist for The Hindu and has written a number of books on the history and culture of Chennai.- Early life and education :Muthiah was born...
, businessman Nalli Kuppuswami Chetty and Gnani
Gnani
Gnani is a term in many Indian languages meaning "wise".The term is added to the names of various individuals, but does not denote a specific person....
. Second-hand pavement shops outside the fair also did a good business. Book publishers made a cumulative sale of approximately rupees 7 crores.