23rd Vijayawada Book Festival 2012

The 23rd Vijayawada Book Festival, the largest Book Fair in AP opened on January 1, 2012 and will continue until January 11.I had the opportunity to be at this book fair on January 2,3, and 4. This ever growing book fair has 310 stalls this year, the highest number in its 23 year history.

The main stage at the book fair is named Mullapudi Venkataramana Sahitya Vedika (ముళ్ళపూడి వెంకటరమణ సాహిత్య వేదిక) in memory of the late writer, who was a frequent visitor to this event in the past. As we walked around the grounds, browsing various stores, it was a pleasure to hear repeatedly the name of Mullapudi as the often repeated announcement on the PA system. The venue of the book fair was named after Sivalenka Sambhu Prasad, former editor of Andhra Patrika and a mentor of Mullapudi. Ironically, this was apparently done at the behest of Mullapudi who kept reminding the organizers that the last year was the centenary year of the (అయ్యవారు), Sambhu Prasad.

There were two heartening things for me at this festival. Ten years ago, when I first visited this festival, there were very few children’s books in Telugu. I think, in 2003, the only place with children’s books was an exhibition by Vikasa Vidya Vanam.This year, almost every stall selling Telugu books has some children’s books. There were two stalls exclusively selling children’s books – Manchi Pustakam and Kottapalli. Between all these stores, there are hundreds of children’s books available in Telugu.

The other heartening issue is that there are several new Telugu books published recently and there is an increased number of new titles available across almost all genres. There are plenty of books related to Telugu film (a relatively recent phenomenon).

I had the opportunity to meet several old friends during these three days. I also got to meet the Kinige team and Chava Kiran painstakingly demonstrated how to use the new Suravara Telugu Keyboard, which apparently was released on January 4. It’s easy to use and I hope that more people get to buy it and use it. Kinige was also distributing a book, written by Sujatha and Rahman, on how to set up blogs in Telugu. I also met Koutilya, with a large collection of used books, at Kinige.

I had a great time, as usual at this book fair. Got to spend a lot of time among books and book loving friends. Bought several books – not sure how to get them to my place in USA. Also got to chair the commemorative meeting on Mullapudi as the originally scheduled chair could not be present. Sreeramana spoke eloquently. I and Sreeramana fondly remembered us conducting at the same venue in 2003, a face-to-face meeting of Bapu and Ramana with fans.

As there were heavy rains on January 1, the Sunday got washed away. The crowds appeared to be sparse on the three days I was there. Many of the booksellers were wistfully talking about the unusually heavy sales at the recently concluded Hyderabad Book Fair.

If you are in the vicinity, please visit the Vijayawada Book Festival.

(Photos Courtesy: Facebook group on Telugu Pustakam – pustakam.net)