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Prized bookers of Vijayawada
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G.V.Ramana Rao goes round the stalls in the 16th Vijayawada Book Festival to find the in-thing in its continued success
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The elegant stall of The Hindu at the 16th Vijayawada Book Festival.
CANNES IS a small town in France, 32 kilometres from Nice, a city on Mediterranean coast. But today, it is famous for its film festival that attracts the best filmmakers in the world. Sundance, Utah, is yet another insignificant place in the United States of America (USA). The best of young filmmakers from all over the world scurry to have their films exhibited at the Sundance Film Festival.
Mardi Gras (Shrove Tuesday, last day of feasting before the fast of Lent) is celebrated all over the world, but tourists from all over go to New Orleans to participate in the festivities.
It may be too early to compare the Vijayawada Book Festival, which is still in its teens, to these popular festivals of the world. But this annual festival of books has vastly changed the image of the city that was dubbed an "intellectual Sahara" by a person no less than Sir C.R.Reddy.
Literary stalwarts
The Vijayawada Book Festival Society (VBFS), which organises the book exhibition as a calendar event, took up the task of making the festival a venue of a whole range of literary programmes and events. Many writers and intellectuals were invited to participate in the inaugural and valedictory functions. Khushwant Singh, R.K.Laxman, Romila Thapar, R.V.R.Chandrasekhara Rao, C.Narayana Reddy, Mullapudi Venkataramana, Madhurantakam Rajaram, C.Rangarajan and U.R.Anantha Murthy are among those who enriched the events organised at the festival with their presence.
Eminent persons from several walks of life participated in the literary events organised during the book festival. Seminars, centenaries of great Telugu writers, book releases, rallies to promote book-reading and various competitions to bring out the "literary" talents in students were held at two separate stages constructed for them at the exhibition venue. Every year the Swaraj Maidan, the venue of the book exhibition, and the main stage are named after different writers to honour them.
L.Syed, the Chennai branch manager of Viva Group, says the company is also participating in the exhibition to get maximum mileage for the children's books. The Viva Group that represents over 250 British, American and European publishers is going to publish children's books in a big way. The book exhibition is the best place to sell their products directly to the end consumer, says Syed.
Testimony to success
The book festival society, secretary, D.Ashok Kumar, says the ever increasing participation of publishers from all over the country is a testimony of the book exhibition's success. From a mere 84 stalls in 1991, the number of stalls increased to 265 this year. The society president, R.Ramaswami, wants to increase the number of stalls to an ambitious 400. The variety of stalls is as diverse as the books in them. Noted magician, B.V.Pattabhiram, has a stall, while Bapu's paintaings adorn another stall. Ramakrishna Mission and many others of different hues have put up their shops. The Hindu and a few other newspapers also have their stalls, besides those of big publishing houses and booksellers. Subjects like physics, chemistry, mathematics, computers, classics, fiction, non-fiction, children's books, teaching aids and books in different languages find place in the stands of many stalls.
The activity of the book festival society does not end with organising the annual book exhibition. The society raised donations from its members and other book-lovers to build a library. The library is not only a much-needed haven for people who want to enhance their knowledge; it is also the venue of several literary events. The noted Indophile, Mark Tully and his co-author, Gillian Wight, launched the "VBFS Literary Forum" when they were here to promote their book "India in Slow Motion". The library week celebrations, classes in communication skills and foreign languages, book releases, workshops and seminars are organised at the Swathi Anil Memorial Hall located in the same building. Prof. Anantha Murthy appreciating the ambience of the library says that the book festival society has made Vijayawada city the most happening place as far as literature is concerned.
Photos: Raju. V
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Madurai
Mangalore
Tiruchirapalli
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
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