Book festival earns Rs 1.5cr in revenue, ends on a high note

Coimbatore: More than 1.25lakh people visited the 10-day Coimbatore Book Festival 2019, which concluded at the Codissia Trade Fair Complex here on Sunday. The fair saw business worth Rs 1.5crore, the organisers said.
The fifth edition of the fair, which began on July 19, had 250 stalls. It also had literary and cultural events on the sidelines, catering to a diverse audience.
Competitions were held for school and college students as part of the event, president of the Coimbatore Book Festival 2019 B Vijay Anand said. “Elocution and theatre competitions were held for students. We received 3,600 entries for the essay competition and gave away five prizes for the best entries. As many as 1,000 other participants received Rs 200-worth coupons to buy books,” he said.
The evening slots at the venue saw events for the public, which were well received. ‘Bharathi Yaar?’, a play on the life of Tamil poet Subramania Bharathi, was the show-stealer on Wednesday. About 1,500 people witnessed the performance that included enactment of scenes from Bharathi’s life and also performance of songs penned by him.
The festival also saw speeches on Mahatma Gandhi to commemorate his 150th birth anniversary and a science demonstration for school students.
Representatives of Mumbai dabbawalas, who runs the world-renowned lunchbox delivery and return system, gave a presentation on their enterprise on Friday. “As part of the golden jubilee celebrations of Codissia, we have been inviting various eminent speakers. We invited dabbawalas this year,” Anand said.
Prominent Tamil writer Vannanilavan was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award. Young writers Guna Kandasamy, N Gurusamy and Solai Maayavan were honoured for their contributions to the fields of fiction, non-fiction and poetry respectively.