International book fair to focus on children’s literature

Chennai: The upcoming Chennai International Book Fair (CIBF) 2025 will place special emphasis on children's literature, with the organisers of the Bologna Children's Book Fair, which is the world's largest children's book fair, attending as the guest of honour. The event will also feature a dedicated pavilion showcasing children's literature in Tamil and other languages.
"We expect participation from more than 50 countries and are targeting 1,000 MoUs to be signed at the event," said school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi at the launch of the 2025 edition of book fair on Tuesday, which is scheduled to take place from Jan 16 to 18.
Last year, representatives from 39 countries participated, leading to the signing of 752 MoUs for translating books from Tamil into other languages and vice versa. "Tamil books have been translated into 18 international languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Malay, Swahili, English, French, German, and Spanish," Poyyamozhi said. He also said that books from countries such as Turkey, Persia, Italy, Spain, Russia, and Portugal were translated into Tamil.
Govt has allocated 3crore as a translation grant. "By inviting the organisers of Bologna Children's Book Fair as the guest of honour, we aim to translate Tamil books into even more languages," said P Shankar, managing director of the Tamil Nadu textbook and educational services corporation (TNTESC). He said that the number of participation requests for the 2025 edition has exceeded those of previous years.
School education secretary S Madumathi presided over the launch event. During the occasion, tablet computers were distributed to district library officers and chief librarians from Anna Centenary Library and Kalaignar Centenary Library. Additionally, 39 librarians were honoured with the S R Ranganathan award, which included 5,000 in cash and a silver medal. The event was attended by TNTESC chairperson Dindigul I Leoni and other dignitaries.