CHENNAI: The heat appears to have taken a toll on this years edition of Chennai Book Fair which usually teems with visitors ranging from curious onlookers to hardcore bookworms.
On Thursday, the seventh day of the 11-day event organised by the
Tamil Book Vendors Association
, only a thin crowd was spotted at the YMCA Royapettah. Although many books were sold at heavily discounted rates, even the 100 only banners couldnt attract enough takers.
Book vendors, who were seen fanning themselves to beat the heat, said it wasnt the right season for sales. Some said it was too hot to venture out to buy books, while English book vendors pointed out that the summer holiday season attracts a bigger crowd. Kavi Arasan, who runs the Maruti Book Store, said while the cost of setting up a stall has increased this year (43,000), the payoff isnt going to be high since English books are most sought after by school and college students in April and May.
Ravi Varma, who runs
Bangalore Book House
, said business had looked up over the weekend, but has fallen over the week. "We were making sales of about 25,000 over the weekends. Now its down to 6,000 or so. We managed to make this much only because ours is a well known shop," said Varma.
Customers could be seen poring over books at some of the Tamil literature shops that constitute a big chunk of the 256 stalls put up this year. "We have a Writers Corner this year where we bring new Tamil authors and introduce them to readers for an interaction. There are also daily workshops on different subjects. The one on libraries saw about 13 institutions, including British Council, Connemara and
Anna Centenary Library
, taking part and had a good response," said Nagaraj of the Tamil Book Vendors Association.
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