The first week of December in Bengaluru promises to be special for bibliophiles. They could choose to be amidst the 10 lakh books being showcased in over 100 stalls at Freedom Park from December 4 to 13 or amidst 60,000 titles at the Bangalore Lit Fest being held at Hotel Royal Orchid on December 5-6.
“November means Kannada, and November also sees an extended celebration of Children’s Day. So, apart from books in all languages from publishers all over India, we are bringing a huge stock of Kannada books from well-known publishers in 40 book stalls.
To attract children towards books specially addressing them, we have distributed one lakh free passes to schools and colleges in the city,” says Basavaraj M., of Royal Marriot Events, which is organising the exhibition at Freedom Park.
Encouraged by the response to earlier exhibitions, Mr. Basavaraj has planned a larger one this time as annual book fairs don’t seem to be meeting the demand.
“Why wait for one year for a book exhibition when demand and supply are in place?” he says. “While entry fee is Rs. 10, all publishers will offer discounts ranging from 50 to 70 per cent.”
Some of the publishers who will be participating are Central Sahitya Akademi, Anke Gowda Pustaka Mane, Select Book House, ISKCON, Sneha Book House, Girimane Prakashana and Gnanayogi.
If you are looking for rare maps and atlases from pre-Independence days, visit the stall of Select Book Shop at Freedom Park from December 4 to 13.
The shop has been around for 70 years.
Other notable items that are expected to be on display are Mysore Maharaja Krishna Rajendra Wadiyar and Jayachamaraja Wadiyar’s writings, books and poetry, says shop-owner K.K.S. Murthy who would have nearly 7,000 books in two stalls. Remembering the earlier events, he said, “Even in the 1960s during the time of my father K.B. Krishnamurthy Rao, many smaller book exhibitions were also being organised. I cannot forget the ones that were arranged by the Gandhi Sahitya Sangha at Malleswaram, which had freedom fighter Siddavanahalli Krishna Sharma as its chairman.
The authors, including G.P. Rajarathnam and P. Kodanda Rao, visited the events which featured books from all over the world that would arrive by ship.”
