Chennai Book Fair (earlier Madras Book Fair) is an annual book fair organized in Chennai, India by the Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI). The fair typically lasts for about two weeks during the New Year-Pongal season, that is between the last week of December and the third week of January. It is the second largest book fair in the country after the Kolkata Book Fair. All major Tamil and English publishing houses participate in this fair. It is considered as an important event in the Chennai cultural calendar along with the Chennai music season.
The 46th edition (2023) will be held from 6 January 2023 to 22 January 2023, including the first edition of the Chennai International Book Fair from 16 January 2023 to 18 January 2023.
History
The First Madras Book Fair was organized in Madras between 14 and 24 December 1977, by The Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI), an association of major publishing companies of Tamil Nadu. The first Madras Book Fair had 22 stalls and was held at the Madrasa-i-Azam school due to the initiative of K. V. Mathew of B. I. Publications. He is also credited with planning and organisation of the next five editions of the fair. Mathew has also organized an annual book fair for students. The Student Book Fair, however, hasn't been as successful as the Chennai Book Fair.
The book fairs gradually rose in popularity. At the 12th Madras Book Fair held between 22 December 1989, and 1 January 1990, Tamil translations of WHO publications were put on sale. The success of the Chennai Book Fair prompted BAPASI to start similar book fairs at Udagamandalam, Thiruvananthapuram, Pondicherry and Tiruchirapalli.
The 24th Chennai Book Fair experienced a spurt in the number of Tamil language publishers. Of the 180 publication houses who participated in the book fair, 80 were Tamil publication houses, a remarkable increase since the 23rd fair in which there was only one stall devoted to Tamil publications. The book fair celebrated its silver jubilee in 2002 coinciding with the 50th anniversary celebrations of BAPASI. The fair was held for 15 days instead of the usual 11-day affair. In 2007, due to traffic congestion and the need for more space for the stalls, the venue for the annual book fair was changed from Quaid-e-Milleth Women's College to St. George' School in Kilpauk. In the 32nd edition held in 2009, the number of visitors crossed the one-million mark. In 2013, due to construction work on the Chennai Metro, the venue of the book fair was shifted to the YMCA grounds in Nandanam.
In 2016, following the 2015 South Indian floods, for the first time, the book fair was rescheduled to be held in May. Instead, an alternate low-key Pongal Book Fair was held between 13 and 24 January for book lovers and tourists.
The early editions were held in the last weeks of December and ended in the first week of January in order to coincide with the Christmas-New Year holidays. However, in the late nineties, the fair was moved to mid-January to coincide with the Pongal festive season.
Recent editions
The 32nd Chennai Book Fair was inaugurated at St George's Anglo-Indian School, Poonamallee High Road, Chennai, by former President of India Abdul Kalam on 8 January 2009. and lasted ten days. The 2009 edition had over 600 stalls and was attended by over one million people, amongst whom were Chennai historian S. Muthiah, businessman Nalli Kuppuswami Chetti and Gnani Sankaran. Second-hand pavement shops outside the fair also did a good business. Book publishers made a cumulative sale of approximately 70 million.
The 14-day fair was held at St. George's Anglo Indian School on Poonamallee High Road. The fair included 646 stalls, spread over . Over 1 million titles were on sale. Book publishers from New Delhi, Agra, Hyderabad, Bangalore and various parts of Tamil Nadu participated in the fair.
The 36th Chennai Book Fair was held between 11 and 23 January 2013, at YMCA Physical Education College Ground, Nandanam due to the construction of CMRL (Chennai Metro Rail) at E.V.R. Periyar Salai. It had 747 stalls in a area, with 450 participants and 1 million titles.
