Annual Hyderabad Book Fair opens for book lovers

The book fair is back and the venue NTR stadium in the city is abuzz with activity. With trolleys delivering decks of books and the stall managers setting them with sheer enthusiasm, the 34th Hyderabad National Book Fair this time is all set to welcome bibliophiles to the ocean of book choices.

Being conducted by the Hyderabad Book Fair Society, the book fair will be held till December 28. With around 270 stalls by various publishers and book houses from Hyderabad, Rajahmundhry, Vijayawada, Tenali, Delhi and Mumbai, the exhibition offers a large collection from the classics of the yesteryears to the latest books of emerging writers of the decade.

“One can find books of all kinds – from comics and drawing books for the kids to biographies and fiction of all genres for the grownups. Also, to encourage emerging regional writers, we have asked them to give us a few of their copies which will be



displayed during the exhibition. Once these copies are sold, we would bring in more copies by the authors. We have around 50 such writers in regional languages,” says B Rajeshwar Rao, treasurer for Hyderabad Book Fair Society.

Apart from Telugu books, one can also find books in Urdu, English, Sanskrit, and some in Tamil and Kannada as well.

While it is observed that the online sales of books during the pandemic times doubled, the organisers hope to see a larger crowd this year to keep the habit of reading among the city dwellers alive.

Keeping Covid protocols in mind, the number of stalls have been reduced by close to 100 from their regular 350 stalls and the space between two columns of stalls have been increased to 40 feet. Also, it is mandatory to be wearing masks at all times inside the venue, K Chandra Mohan, the secretary of the book fair points out.