The 45th Chennai Book Fair organised by The Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI) will begin on Wednesday at the YMCA grounds, Nandanam, and go on till March 6.
The fair was supposed to be held in January this year and had to be postponed owing to the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the State. Recently, the Tamil Nadu government announced that book fairs and exhibitions could be held from February 16.
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin is scheduled to inaugurate the book fair at 5 p.m. and present awards including the Kalaignar Karunanidhi Porkizhi Virudhugal literary award.
With around 800 stalls, the fair this year will be open everyday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Booksellers from across the country including from Mumbai, Kerala and Karnataka will be setting up stalls. The State government will have stalls as well, for the Illam Thedi Kalvi Scheme, the Department of Social Welfare, and the Disaster Management Department. Owing to COVID-19 safety protocols, the number of stalls has been reduced to 800 from 1,000 this year.
BAPASI has also begun selling tickets online for the fair at https://bapasi.com/ . Organisers said over 40,000 tickets have been sold. An entry ticket is priced at ₹10 and season passes can be availed for ₹100. School and college students can enter free of cost by showing their ID cards.
The organisers said all visitors would have to wear masks and use sanitisers made available at all entrances. Physical distancing must also be observed. A vaccination camp at the venue has also been organised for the benefit of the visitors.
