With 250 stalls and nearly 150 publishers, the Coimbatore Book Festival is drawing book lovers from across the city and even neighbouring districts.
The fifth edition of the event at the Codissia Trade Fair Complex has stalls with books in several languages.
The aim of organising it is to inculcate the habit of reading among the young generation where most of them are heading towards the digital medium, says event chairman B.Vijay Anand. And, the organisers are happy that the festival is attracting a lot of young readers.
“Though e-books are easily accessible, they do not give the feel of reading an actual book,” says Raghavi (19) from P.S.G. College of Technology. Karansrinadam, a medical student studying in Netherlands, says that “e-books do not feel real and a real book in hand is easier to read.”
According to 29-year-old author from Punjab, Divyesh Dutta, whose Book “Gandhi with the Gun” is among the top sellers in the stall “Book-Addict”, he admires the people of Tamil Nadu for their reading habits. They know what they want to read, he says.
A group of Class IX students from Vijaya Vidyalaya gathered at the eco-friendly stall “PAPCIL” as they were fascinated with the range of products in it.
Apart from the book stalls, an U.S.-based organisation, Grolier International, had installed gadgets to help students develop IQ and multiple intelligence through home learning modules. “We are totally against the screens,” says Baiju, educational consultant, Grolier International. “We evolve methods and systems to reduce the gadget involvement and to increase the use of books by nurturing reading habits in a child and providing games and tools to develop the child’s intelligence,” adds Thomas Cherian, its senior field manager.
From books on poetry to literature in different languages and for various age groups, the book festival, which is on till July 28, has something to offer for every visitor.
Joe, parent of a five-year-old, said that “books are the best option to restrict a child’s time on television.”
With one lakh visitors last year, Mr. Anand says the organisers expect the footfalls to go up to two lakh this year. “The sixth edition is going to be bigger than this and the organisers are looking forward to making it the largest book festival in the country,” he adds.