Book festival to begin from Wednesday

Vijayawada: Former bureaucrat R. Vaidyanatha Ayyar will inaugurate the 25th All-India Book Exhibition at 6 pm at the PWD Grounds here on Wednesday.

About three lakh book lovers are expected to visit the exhibition, that has been gaining popularity over the years.

The festival will end on January 11.

Minister for rural development Dokka Manikya Varaprasad will be the chief guest at the inaugural function, while district collector M. Raghunandana Rao will preside?over the programme.

Giving details of the annual book exhibition, D. Ashok Kumar, president of the Vijayawada book festival society, saidthat the venue was named after Hyderabad book trust founder C.K. Narayana Reddy, while the literary dais has been named after noted writer Malati Chandoor.

Children literature is the theme of this year’s book exhibition and several competitions would be conducted for children with the cooperation of National centre for children’s literature. The Sahitya Academy will conduct meetings of Telugu and Kannada writers on writings for children.

Kumar said that various types of books would be displayed in 299 stalls.

All?important publications will find a place in the exhibition to be?organised from 2 pm to 9 pm daily.

Book festival society secretary R. Ramaswamy, honorary?vice-president B. Babjee and others were present.