Vijayawada: Book festival to enthral book lovers from today

Vijayawada : The annual book festival which attracts book lovers will be inaugurated by Kendra Sahitya Akademi chairman Madhav Koushik at the sprawling Government Polytechnic College grounds here on Thursday evening.

Minister for Education Botcha Satyanarayana will be the chief guest and Associate Editor of Andhra Jyothi A Krishna Rao will also participate. Addressing media at the book festival venue on Wednesday, president of Vijayawada Book Festival Society Manohar Naidu said that several books of Emesco, Visalandhra Publications, and children’s books from National Book Trust in addition to the books authored by Olga, Venna Vallabha Rao, Maha Bharata Pravachanalu by Chaganti Koteswara Rao will be released during the festival. The birth centenaries of celebrities like Kalipatnam Rama Rao and Rambhatla Krishnamurthy will be celebrated. On January 1, the Walk for Books will be taken out with former Supreme Court judge Justice Jasti Chalameswar flagging off the march which will be headed by Editor of Sakshi daily newspaper V Murali.

Earlier, secretary of Kendra Sahitya Akademi Dr Kruttiventi Srinivasa Rao who was the chief guest at the press meet, addressing the media said that he was happy to witness the book festival for the first time in Vijayawada. “The book fairs play a great role in encouraging book reading,” he said.

Dr Srinivas Rao said that the Kendra Sahitya Akademi has been encouraging the publication of books in 24 languages as against the 22 languages recognised by the Constitution. The Akademi publishes books in Rajasthani and English, he said.

The secretary of the Akademi said that the notable point is that the book festivals also introduce publishers to the readers. “The publisher’s hard work, investment and risk should also be recognised,” he said.