Namma Chennai (நம்ம சென்னை): CHENNAI BOOK FAIR

CHENNAI BOOK FAIR - GENERAL INFORMATION

Chennai Book Fair (earlier Madras Book Fair) is an annual book fair organized in Chennai (the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu) by the Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI). The fair typically lasts for about two weeks during the New Year-Pongal season, that is between the last week of December and the third week of January. It is the second largest book fair in the country after the Kolkata Book Fair. All major Tamil and English publishing houses participate in this fair. It is considered as an important event in the Chennai cultural calendar along with the Chennai music season.

The 46th edition (2023) will be held from 6 January 2023 to 22 January 2023, including the first edition of the Chennai International Book Fair from 16 January 2023 to 18 January 2023.

It got critical reception, response, highly good and positive reviews by the book readers and lovers. It was a super hit viral and blockbuster book fair of the year 2023 and box office success all over Tamilnadu and India.

HISTORY

The First Madras Book Fair was organized in Madras between 14 and 24 December 1977, by The Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI), an association of major publishing companies of Tamil Nadu. The first Madras Book Fair had 22 stalls and was held at the Madrasa-i-Azam school due to the initiative of K. V. Mathew of B. I. Publications. He is also credited with planning and organisation of the next five editions of the fair. 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 book fairs gradually rose in popularity. At the 12th Madras Book Fair held between 22 December 1989, and 1 January 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 24th Chennai Book Fair experienced a spurt in the number of Tamil language publishers. 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. 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 Kilpauk. In the 32nd edition held in 2009, the number of visitors crossed the one-million mark. In 2013, due to construction work on the Chennai Metro, the venue of the book fair was shifted to the YMCA grounds in Nandanam.

In 2016, following the 2015 South Indian floods, for the first time, the book fair was rescheduled to be held in May. Instead, an alternate low-key Pongal Book Fair was held between 13 and 24 January for book lovers and tourists.

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.

RECENT EDITIONS

The 32nd Chennai Book Fair was inaugurated at St George's Anglo-Indian School, Poonamallee High Road, Chennai, by former President of India Abdul Kalam on 8 January 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 Chetti and Gnani Sankaran. Second-hand pavement shops outside the fair also did a good business. Book publishers made a cumulative sale of approximately ₹ 70 million.

The 14-day fair was held at St. George's Anglo Indian School on Poonamallee High Road. The fair included 646 stalls, spread over 150,000 square feet (14,000 m2). Over 1 million titles were on sale. Book publishers from New Delhi, Agra, Hyderabad, Bangalore and various parts of Tamil Nadu participated in the fair.

The 36th Chennai Book Fair was held between 11 and 23 January 2013, at YMCA Physical Education College Ground, Nandanam due to the construction of CMRL (Chennai Metro Rail) at E.V.R. Periyar Salai. It had 747 stalls in a 180,000-square-foot (17,000 m2) area, with 450 participants and 1 million titles.

The 39th edition of Chennai Book Fair was not conducted in January 2016 due to the flood happened in Dec 2015. The planned venue (YMCA Grounds, Nandanam) was still inundated during the last weeks of December and the organisers did not have enough time to replan the venue to keep up with the schedule. Many book sellers and distributors got affected as their valuable stocks were damaged in the floods. The local publishers suffered a loss of approximately 250 million. The Book Fair was postponed initially to April 2016 and then rescheduled to 1–13 June 2016. A book fair was however held between 13 and 24 January 2016 at YMCA Royapettah organised by Tamil Nadu Book Sales and Promotions Association with 225 stalls.

The 45th edition of the book fair, which was scheduled to begin from 6 January 2022, was postponed due to surge in COVID-19 cases.

VENUE

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 erstwhile Woodlands Drive-In restaurant. The book fair was subsequently moved to the Quaid-e-Milleth Government Arts College for Women in the late 1980s. The Quaid-e-Milleth Government Arts College for Women remained the venue of the book fair till 2007, when the venue was shifted to St. George Anglo-Indian High Secondary School on the Poonamallee High Road due to space and parking constraints.

FEATURES

The Chennai Book Fair is considered to be one of the biggest events in the Chennai cultural calendar along with the Chennai music season. In addition to book stalls, there are food and refreshment stalls to serve the needs of hungry visitors. Regular debates, contests and speeches are held at the venue. In recent times, movie clippings of films of international renown are filmed at the venue of the fair. Annual awards to the best writer and the best publisher are given at the fair.

The last book fair in 2022 was the 45th edition of Chennai book fair organised by Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI) at the Nandanam YMCA ground in the city. The sales went up over 12 crores in the fair. The State government's "Illam Thedi Kalvi" initiative, a scientific exhibition, a Keezhadi photo gallery, and a display of vintage ceramic artifacts were all represented during this year's fair. Another highlight of the event was the sculptures of notable leaders. There were sculptures of former CM M Karunanidhi, well-known Tamil poet Tiruvalluvar, Buddha, former President APJ Abdul Kalam, Dravidian icon "Periyar" EV Ramasamy, and other luminaries available for purchase.

The Book Sellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI) has been organizing the Chennai Book Fair ever since it was started in the year 1976. BAPASI has conducted 36 editions of the Chennai Book Fair so far successfully and is all set to launch the 38th edition of the book fair.

Year after year the Book Fair has grown in stature in all spheres gradually to be recogonised as the 2nd largest Book Fairs in India in terms of size and the first in terms of footfall. It is only going to increase in the coming years and if all augurs well we are expecting a minimum of 10 lakh footfalls and overall sales of 25 crores. It has been widely acknowledged as the biggest event to have happened in Chennai city only next to the Chennai Trade Fair that happens at the Island Grounds every year.

The readers paradise encompassing an area of 2,00,000 sq.ft is one of the biggest conglomerates that attracts book lovers, avid readers from all walks of life and varied age groups – School kids, College students, Corporate employees, Entrepreneurs, Govt. employees, N.G.Os throng the Chennai book fair keeping tab on their favorite book, author. In a way of facilitating them all the basic amenities such as sanitation, first aid, parking facilities, enquiry counters garnered by speeches, open-houses addressed by personalities from the media and publishing industry.

The Chennai Book Festival 2014 will be nothing short of a cultural euphoria with 700 stalls, over 5 lakh titles including both Tamil and English and 10 lakh prospective audiences. It has already drawn the attention of celebrity orators and movie stars, pioneers from the education, manufacturing and service industry. They have expressed their willingness in active participation by creating awareness about the event and keeping the buzz alive in all types of forums – physical and virtual.

This edition of the Book Fair will be remembered and recogonised for the initiatives that has been taken to initiate budding readers in a way of inculcating the reading habit in them. Children less than 12 years of age are exempted from entry ticket charges. Exclusive short story, drawing and oratorical competition have been planned for Schools, Colleges in and around Chennai. The preliminary rounds for these events will be held at their respective schools and the finals will be held at the Book Fair premises. Bearing in mind the chronic logistic constraints in organising a Book Fair elaborate parking and toilet facilities are being planned.

Also open spaces where the public can sit and rejuvenate themselves will be found adequately so that they never feel exhausted. In a way of convening the transport facilities for the city dwellers, special arrangements have been made. We cordially invite you to be a part of the grand event and support us in your best possible way in making the 37th Chennai Book Festival a grand success.

CHENNAI BOOK FAIR DETAILS

Year	Edition	Venue	Days held
1976	1	Madrasa-I-Azam school	-
2001	24	Quaid-e-Milleth Women's College	11 days
2002	25	Quaid-e-Milleth Women's College	15 days
2003	26	Quaid-e-Milleth Women's College	09.01.2003 - 19.01.2003 (11 days)
2004	27	Quaid-e-Milleth Women's College	09.01.2004 - 19.01.2004 (11 days)
2005	28	Quaid-e-Milleth Women's College	07.01.2005 - 17.01.2005 (11 days)
2006	29	Quaid-e-Milleth Women's College	06.01.2006 - 16.01.2006 (11 days)
2007	30	St. George's School, Kilpauk	-
2008	31	St. George's School, Kilpauk	-
2009	32	St. George's School, Kilpauk	08.01.2009 - 18.01.2009 (11 days)
2010	33	St. George's School, Kilpauk	-
2011	34	St. George's School, Kilpauk	-
2012	35	St. George's School, Kilpauk	05.01.2012 - 17.01.2012 (11 days)
2013	36	YMCA Physical Education College Ground, Nandanam	11.01.2013 - 23.01.2013 (13 days)
2014	37	YMCA Physical Education College Ground, Nandanam	10.01.2014 - 22.01.2014 (13 days)
2015	38	YMCA Physical Education College Ground, Nandanam	09.01.2015 - 21.01.2015 (13 days)
2016	39	Island Grounds, The Island, Chennai	01.06.2016 - 13.06.2016 (13 days)
2017	40	St. George's School, Chennai, Kilpauk	06.01.2017 - 19.01.2017 (13 days)
2018	41	St. George's School, Chennai, Kilpauk	10.01.2018 - 22.01.2018 (13 days)
2019	42	YMCA Physical Education College Ground, Nandanam	04.01.2019 - 20.01.2019 (17 days)
2020	43	YMCA Physical Education College Ground, Nandanam	09.01.2020 - 21.01.2020 (13 days)
2021	44	YMCA Physical Education College Ground, Nandanam	24.02.2021 - 09.03.2021 (14 days)
2022	45	YMCA Physical Education College Ground, Nandanam	16.02.2022 - 06.03.2022 (19 days)
2023	46	YMCA Physical Education College Ground, Nandanam	06.01.2023 - 22.01.2023 (17 days)