Over 1 lakh books at 10-day festival in Coimbatore

Coimbatore, Aug 11: Over one lakh books covering almost all subjects will be showcased at Coimbatore Book Festival 2015, beginning here from August 14.

The 10-day Festival will have the participation of more than 100 Publishing Houses from all over Tamil Nadu and also from New Delhi and Bengaluru, who will put up 150 stalls, K S Pugalendi, secretary, Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India-BAPASI-, the organisors, told reprorters here on Monday.

Stating that books in English, Hindi and Tamil languages will be prominent in the festival, Pugalendi said that Bapasi was expecting at least rs.two crore worth business at the festival, which would be annual feature.

E Ponnusamy, President, Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (CODISSIA), the joint organisors, said that the main purpose of the festival was to revive the good old habit of book reading among the masses and more especially among the younger generation, considering the marked decline in book reading habit with the advent of electronic gadgets.

About 1,200 educational institutions in the district and also Tirupur and Nilgiris have been invited to send their students and teachers, he said.

The publishers will offer a 10 per cent discount on all purchases in this event and have promised to offer additional discount for institutional purchases, Pugalendi said.

PTI