Chennai Puthaga Sangamam celebrates World Book Day

To commemorate The World Book Day and to inculcate the habit of book reading among the youth, The Periyar Self Respect Propaganda Institution (PSRPI), in association with National Book Trust, India (Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India) organised a mega book fair “Chennai Puthaga Sangamam” for the third consecutive year, from April 13-23, 2015 in Chennai. Chitra Devi Ramiah, consul general of Malaysia for southern India inaugurated the fair.

Besides, the book fair, Chennai Puthaga Sangaman also featured allied programmes like lectures by eminent personalities, cultural programmes, children activities and awards to personalities who have actively worked towards inculcating reading habits.

The participating publishers offered a wide spectrum of the various genres of books on special discount – literature, science, children’s books, sports, economics, fiction, self development and others.

Authors’ Corner provided a platform to the authors to interact with the visitors and their readers, and share with them their experiences, literary journey, talk about their books and much more. Besides, short films were screened during the noon hours. In appreciation of the noble services rendered by ‘Palam’ Kalyanasundaram, T Stalin Gunasekaran, ‘Vanathi’ Ramanathan, Madurai Murugesan, ‘Nool’ Pandian in preserving the valuable books and in inculcating the good habit of reading books among people, the function of conferring Booker Award for 2015 also took place.

In order to facilitate book readers to hand over used books to needy readers, a book bank was created at the Book Fair. These books will be donated to various schools in small towns and villages. To commemorate the World Book Day Celebrations, a Walkathon was also organised on April 9 with thousands of students, from Labour Statue to Gandhi Statue on the Marina Beach.