Kerala - Kochi   

International Book Festival begins in city

KOCHI: Noted writer Anand said that books could incite violence as much as they could impart knowledge.

Inaugurating the 12th International Book Festival that began here at the Ernakulathappan Ground on Friday, he said that books were behind many tragedies in history. He cited Adolph Hitler’s autobiography as one such book.

Mr. Anand said readers were gambling while buying books. The purchase could prove a loss, foolishness, useless and even dangerous for the reader.

He said the relation between the writer and the reader was a strange one. “The writer inks only part of what he had in mind and even from this, publishers, advertisers, critics and shop owners take away something, only the rest reaches the reader”.

The writer, he said, could attack the reader through the content of the book. At the same time, he has the extraordinary skill to influence the reader by making him knowledgeable and even turning him to a murderer. He urged the readers to assess the correctness of the writing and the intention of the writer.

In spite of this, there was no escape from the relation between books and the reader. The reader had no other way to judge whether a book is good or bad than to read it.

Delivering the keynote address, poetess Sugathakumari bemoaned the gradual death of Malayalam. She said that today’s younger generation was not even able to speak good Malayalam, leave alone writing a few good lines in the mother tongue.

P.C. Cyriac, chairman of the Antharashtra Pusthakotsava Samithi, presided. K.V. Thomas, MLA, and C.K. Manisankar, Deputy Mayor, spoke. This year’s edition of the festival features more stalls compared to the previous year when there were 202 stalls. The festival will end on December 14.

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