Colombo International Book Fair 2014:

New vistas for knowledge seekers

By Sureshini Pilapitiya

The Colombo International Book Fair held annually during the literary month of September was opened on Wednesday by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The President also handed over scholarships to some students under the Daru Diriya Fund set up from the funds collected from the sale of tickets at the exhibition. The exhibition is held for the 16th year with Promate in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Book Publishers Association.

There are about 400 stalls and also 50 foreign stalls including China, India and Malaysia.

The exhibition took a carnival atmosphere with all the fun and entertainment, with small children enjoying themselves with their parents, young people dressed in colourful attire and going through the book stalls. Almost all the publishers of Sri Lanka have participated in the exhibition.

The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation’s cassette and CD mobile stall, as usual was seen making their contribution to the exhibition. Not only books there were food, fun and entertainment stalls.

People from all parts of the island were seen spending their time with family members and friends, enjoying every minute of it.

The exhibition will continue till September 16 from 9 am to 9 pm. The exhibition is wonderful opportunity for all book lovers, and also the younger generation to have a novel experience of the expanding world of books.

Purpose

The Colombo International Book Fair’s main purpose is to promote the reading habit among the younger generation since the habit of reading is slowly fading away.

A spokesman for Susara Publishers said that they were selling mostly children’s books, and were giving 20 percent discount to each book. They also have novels and short stories. They have made their contribution to the event for four years.

Little Sandaruwani, 9, had come from Enderamulla with her mother said she loved to read story books. Thamara Wickramasinghe who had come all the way from Galle was seen buying a lot of text books for her son. She said she had come to the exhibition for the second time.

At the M.D. Gunasena book stall, Dilip Kumara, a sales representative said they have both foreign and local books, and most of the books which were bought were text books and work books on various subjects. They also give generous discounts for books.

Udeni Chandrasiri from Maharagama said it would be better if the publishers had books which recommended for examinations at the fair.

M.D. Gunasena stall had a variety of books including novels, children’s books, educational books, religious and astrological books and also translations and recipe books.

Lakmali Egodagama from Sadeepa Publishers said their publications are on Buddhist and educational subjects. They have brought a special set of books from Malaysia for children’s educational needs and they have also brought a special range of books called “Dickens” to improve the English knowledge of children.

Samudrika de Silva of Samudra publications, said most of the books sold on the first day of the exhibition were those on educational subjects.

Opportunity

The fair provided an opportunity to meet many publishers and authors. A robot made by a Sri Lankan youth welcomed the guests adding a new facet to the fair.

Nuwan Jayantha from Vijitha Yapa stall, said they offer books imported from India and UK. They have a variety of books on language and fiction. They have also a few Sinhala Publications.

Dushyantha Weerawardene, 11, and Purnima Dulmini, 10, from Pamankada, were siblings who were at the Vijitha Yapa stall.

They were enjoying themselves thoroughly with the colourful array of books displayed at the Vijitha Yapa stall. They had come to the exhibition for the second time.

Afraz and Mohammed, CEO of the Management Studio said they sell a lot of motivational, general management, innovation and also children’s books.

They offer an array of autobiographies including those of Richard Branson and Steve Jobs. They have books of every kind, even encyclopaedias to improve knowledge. This is the fourth time that they’re participating in the exhibition.

Book lovers at the BMICH