VIJAYAWADA: The 28th Vijayawada Book Festival will also showcase various government initiatives and programmes. The platform serving as a real festival for book lovers since decades will also be a platform for a couple of government organisations and a private NGO.
This apart, an area of 1,000 square feet would be earmarked for stalls that exclusively sell children’s literature and paraphernalia for children to play.
For the first time ever, the Vijayawada Book Festival Society (VBFS) which has been successfully organising the annual festival at the Swarajya Maidan has joined hands with the NTR Trust and the State Department of Language and Culture to organise the 28th edition from January 1 to January 11, according to the organisers.
VBFS representative B. Babjee said 29 of the 360 stalls would be occupied by various government departments and the NTR Trust.
The NTR Trust has been allotted five stalls including one for blood donation campaign, the Girijan Co-operative Corporation four stalls to sell their products, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the Brahmin Welfare Corporation four each, the Kapu Corporation three, and the rest for departments including Youth Services, Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty and others. The NTR Trust will also organise quiz, essay writing and competitions for children.
Last year due to space crunch, only 235 stalls were set up and the number of stalls in 2015 was 390. Speaking about other specialities, as part of the Medhomadhana Sadassu about 150 writers would take part in special events every day.
Also, in a makeshift auditorium, various programmes will be conducted from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. by the Department of Language and Culture. About 170 publishers from across the country will be taking part in the festival.
On January 4, former RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao will participate in the rally to promote the festival.
‘Writers stall’ for budding writers
Mr. Babjee said to encourage new writers, the festival would provide a special stall where their books could be put up for sale. “The budding writers can place some copies of their books at the designated stall and just come back in the night to collect their returns. This gives free and wide marketing opportunity for new writers who could not invest in marketing,” he said.
The venue of the festival is named after late Paruchuri Narasimha Rao of Technical publishers who was a life member of the VBFS. The Sahitya Vedika where literary works would be discussed has been named after legendary Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu will inaugurate the festival on January 1.
