Kochi: The second edition of Krithi book and literary festival being organised by the state government and the Sahithya Pravarthaka Cooperative Society (SPCS) will be held from February 8 to 17 next year. Minister for cooperation Kadakampally Surendran, who announced the decision here on Friday, said the SPCS has picked Kochi as the permanent venue for the annual mega expo as the first edition, held here in march, elicited big response. The next year’s event will be more broad-based with people’s participation, the minister said. “We will conduct events in schools and colleges spreading the message of the festival, starting July,” he said.
There will be workshop for new writers and programmed for libraries, he said. The first edition has about 100 publishers in about 180 stalls, but the second one will have more than 150 publishers in 300 stalls. There will be space for micro-publishers who will not have to pay for the stall. The first edition which saw a sale of books worth Rs 17 crore was a huge success and is now being rated as the third book fair after Delhi and Kolkata, Mr Surendran said. Several government departments including cultural, finance will be part of the festival.
