CIBF: Bringing the world to Tamil; Taking Tamil to the World

Anbil Magesh Poyyamozhi, Honourable Minister for School Education, announced that the Bologna Children’s Book Fair (BCBF) is the Guest of Honour at the Chennai International Book Fair (CIBF) 2025. CIBF stands for the Tamil Civilisation’s longstanding commitment to connect with the world.

The Government of Tamil Nadu gives about one million euros every year for organising the Chennai International Book Fair (CIBF). The idea is to promote cultural exchanges through literary exchanges. ‘Bringing the world to Tamil; Taking Tamil to the World’ is the goal of the CIBF. CIBF officials are visiting Frankfurt Book Fair, the largest book fair for general publishing, and the Bologna Children’s Book Fair (BCBF), the largest book fair for children’s books, every year. They promote Tamil literature worldwide and bring the best literature from all over the world to Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu government does everything in their power to communicate the rich spectrum of Sangam, Bhakti, and Contemporary Tamil literature.

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin released medical textbooks in Tamil in the first edition of the CIBF in 2023. Udayanidhi Stalin, Deputy Chief Minister, released the books of the Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation, one of the key organisers of the CIBF, in the 2024 edition of the event.

Here, Dr. T. Sankara Saravanan, Joint Director, Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation (TNTB and ESC), shares the highlights of the upcoming Chennai International Book Fair(CIBF) in January 2025.

AABP: Tell us about the highlights of CIBF 2025

Dr. Saravanan: This year will be the third edition of ‘Chennai International Book Fair.’ We have received overwhelming response for the first two editions from the publishing world. While promoting CIBF across the world at events like Bologna Children’s Book Fair (BCBF), Sharjah International Book fair and Frankfurt Book Fair, it is heartening to see that CIBF has carved a place for itself in the publishing community within a short period of time. At Frankfurt, we have invited nearly 70 countries this year. Nearly 25 countries attended the first edition of the fair, while 40 countries attended the second edition. This year, we are expecting that around 50 countries to be part of the CIBF. We have received over 225 fellowship applications from about 80 countries.

AABP: How is Tamil Nadu government extending its support to CIBF this year?

Dr. Saravanan: This year, Dr. P. Sankar, IAS Director, Directorate of Public Libraries, and Managing Director, Tamilnadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation, is the director of the CIBF. The state government is extending its full support to the event and has been monitoring the progress of the event over the last two years. The translation grants were increased to Rs. 3 crores in the second edition. During the first year, grants were provided for 50 titles and this year we have sanctioned grants for nearly 80 titles. We are offering 2,500 USD as grant for each book. Thus, many publishers have offered their willingness to translate Tamil works into their languages.

AABP: What are the new features in CIBF?

Dr. Saravanan: This year we are introducing the co-publishing option. Already Tamilnadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation has tied up various international publishers including Penguin, Hachette, and Oxford University Press. Till date, we were only looking at publishing in English and various Indian languages. However, this year we are looking at extending it to other international languages.

For co-publication, foreign publishers can take up to four books for translation. We will be buying 500 copies back and they can print along with their logo and the logo of the Textbook Corporation. They can give us 150 copies and the rest can be sold in the market. If they have any difficulty in publishing, we will print the copies for them at a minimum cost if the translated copy is available.

AABP: Is CIBF going to focus on any pavilion for children’s literature?

Dr. Saravanan: Earlier this year, we bought translation rights for nearly 160 titles from 12 languages at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. The guest of honour of the fair is Bologna Children’s Book Fair.

We are also doing projects related to promoting modern and classic literature during the fair. It’s seen that modern literature gets due attention in international fairs than classic literature. However, India is a country with rich and varied classic literature in classical languages like Tamil that need to reach the international readers.

We are also picking modern writers from various languages. We are also offering grants based on the genre that they specialise in like literature, fiction, non-fiction, or even pulp fiction. For instance, Tamil pulp fiction writers are being translated into Filipino. There were requests for grants in international book fair to translate pulp fiction, crime novel and thrillers written in Tamil. These works are gaining popularity among Asian countries.

AABP: Tell us about the translation of the twin epics in Tamil-Shilappadikaram and Manimekhalai.

Dr. Saravanan: The state government has undertaken certain projects to promote Tamil classical literature, particularly, twin epics Shilappadikaram and Manimekhalai. These twin epics are being translated into 25 languages.

In 1960s, it was translated into French by a scholar Alain Danielou. The version was extremely popular and very handy. Although the literature was in poetry form, he used prose to explain it. Thus, it is easily understood by foreign audience. We recently met his legal heir in Paris and received the permission for translation rights to make it available in other foreign languages.

AABP: Tell us about the grants available for translation this year.

Dr. Saravanan: We are offering various models of translation grants. Generally, publishers are hesitant to take up classical works for translation. So, there is a grants model in Korea under which 100 percent fellowship is offered for translating classical literature and 75 percent fellowship is offered for modern literature. This is an idea of promoting classical literature translation without pushing anyone to pick them up. Similarly, we are implementing practices learnt across various international book fairs.

AABP: What is process after signing the MoUs during CIBF?

Dr. Saravanan: Last year, many MoUs were signed and then publishers need to apply for the grants which will be submitted to the grants committee. Based on the quality of the book, the grants will be sanctioned in three instalments. For most of the grants the first instalment has been sanctioned. Once the translation process is completed, the second instalment will be released. Once the book is released, the third instalment will be released. A quality translation work takes nearly 12-18 months to be completed. Thus, we are engaging the publishers throughout the process of translation till the release of the book. We are offering two books per author and three books per publisher.

AABP: The previous edition of CIBF saw the participation of young literary agents who were trained before the event. Are you planning to rope in more literary agents this year too?

Dr. Saravanan: Yes. We are looking at training 10 literary agents who will prepare their literary rights catalogue. They will present the same to the different international publishers. There will also be volunteers to help us out.

AABP: What are the other events that are lined up for this year?

Dr. Saravanan: We will have conferences on contemporary literary themes. We have invited various Indian language writers to the book fair. These include award-winning authors including 15-20 authors from Tamil Nadu. These authors will be introduced to the international publishing world during the fair. It will also bring together literary critics and journalists and translators. In promoting Tamil language to the world and vice-versa, translators play a major role in the same. We are also looking at roping in foreign language institutions like Goethe Institute and Alliance Francaise.