Annual feast begins for bibliophiles in hyderabad city

Hyderabad: The habit of books reading is gaining momentum, despite the growing digitalisation, and the demand for books has not been affected. This could be witnessed during the opening day of the 33rd Hyderabad National Book Fair. Many book enthusiasts were seen wandering around corridors of bookstalls on Monday at Telangana Kala Bharathi (NTR stadium). The Book Fair was inaugurated by Telangana Governor TamilisaiSoundararajan on Monday. Prohibition and Excise Minister Srinivas Goud was also present.

This year, the organisers are planning to pay tributes to great personalities, who made a significant contribution to Telugu literature. They also plan to unveil the statue of former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao at the venue. The platform where literacy meets are organised has been named after a renowned Telugu poet, late Nomula Satyanarayana.

The book fair is a 10-day affair. It will end on January 1. The organisers have listed an interesting line-up of events on all the 10 days to attract children to the fair.Every evening there will be Bala Mela that includes various cultural programmes for children. Apart from this, they have also arranged a free personality development test for Class 7 students and above by Brain–O-Script.

"Though the book fair commenced three decades back with a few publishers and booksellers participating in the event, it got an enormous response from the book lovers for the last five years. This year, fair is having as many as 330 stalls, wherein publishers from various states like Mumbai, Delhi, and Andhra Pradesh are taking part. This year around 80 new writers would exhibit their books here, "said Chandra Mohan, the secretary of Book Fair Society. Last year around 10 lakh book enthusiasts visited the fair and this year we are expecting the same crowd, he added.

Dr Pathipaka Mohan, Assistant Editor for National Book Trust of India, said, "For the past 33 years, we have been setting upour stall here. Our stall consists of various genres of books".

Ajay Panday, a member of New Book Seller Mumbai, said "Fromthe past 12 years we have been setting up our stall here. Every year I eagerly wait for this day. Around 10,000 books from of the various genres are available here. The range starts from Rs 50." Richa Sharma, a customer, said "I eagerly wait for this day and form the past 10 years I am visiting this fair. They have huge collections of the novels written by Charles Dickens and Agatha Christie."

Parveen Kumar, a chartered accountant said "The fair had always variety collection of book and also the prices are very reasonable. I have been visiting this fair since five years."