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| Sunday, 19 September 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Reading maketh a man : Appeal of the written word By Kaminie Jayanthi Liyanage The large droves of people who packed the recently concluded International Book Fair 2004 was a powerful indicator that books had not lost their appeal and value in spite of the burgeoning trend of preferring "instant" information gleaned from the Internet and electronic media.
The interest and appreciation shown in this wide variety of content, depth and breadth of reading material by people visiting the book fair was an indicator of the immense strides the local reading tastes had crossed over the past months. The local leisure reading has very obviously graduated beyond the standard novel, or the love story. People now read for a purpose - may be just curiosity to know what is happening beyond their doorsteps and shores, or to further their education, or to quench an innate exploratory yearning for 'substances' to arouse their grey cells. "In Sri Lanka, there are no divisions when it comes to reading," remarked Manjula, Branch Manager, Sarasavi Book Shop stall. "Young or old, they all read. The most keen are the schoolchildren. And the youth are looking for more exploratory books than the usual novel!" In this sense, translations of in-depth fiction and non-fiction world around was a big hit, if the opinions expressed by book stall owners, parents, youth and children at the book fair were a gauge to go by. "It makes no difference. We read each other's books," claimed a mother and daughter duo, hunting for translations in local languages. It is another healthy indicator for the growth of book industry in Sri Lanka that more in-depth works and translations were seen at the fair in the Sinhala language, side by side with the more prolific English books, adding to the formerly sparse Sinhala reading ambience. The increasing numbers of locals, taking to various professions and seeking tertiary education needs very much more than the standard text books provided by the government and the tutories. They look for that extra "dosage" of globally updated supplementary books to substantiate the knowledge they have acquired. The large numbers of books on medical issues, information technology, finance and management, para psychology, religion and socio-political commentary was just a few aspects of this education need. Dictionaries and books for overseas exams such as IELTS were other items in demand. Obviously, much book material had gone into printing during the past years to satisfy these requirements. The 298 bookstalls, of which 56 came from India, USA and UK, including the SAARC countries, offered a heaving pot of original local fiction, non-fiction, translations of Western, Asian, African and South American origins, academic and professional study books, books on cottage craft and a huge array of local and foreign authored children's books. The last is another area which had grown in the past few years, with more and more local children's writers taking to the production of colourfully illustrated fiction and non-fiction for young children. Health proved to be another area of interest. "I could find quite a few books on the illnesses of middle age and after, like high blood pressure, diabetes or arthritis. I am from that age group, so they count a lot," commented a woman librarian who had selected some of the content at the World Health Organization (WHO) stall. Dr. R.P. Dixit, Head of Sales, WHO, India, said that he was looking for a local publisher to make available medical books at prices affordable to the local readers. For secondary school student, Chaturi, the issue was finding "youth" books. Books in the calibre of the newly launched 'The Silver Sword' by Ian Seraillier (translated into Sinhala by Swarnakanthi Rajapaksha) and translations of Sherlock Holmes exploits, Laura Ingalls' Little House on the Prairie and Enid Blyton's St. Clair school series would have whetted her appetite. She was also in favour of heavier translations of Indian authors such as Vibhutibhooshana Bandevpadya (adapted to silver screen by Satyajit Ray). Rajaguru spoke of the sparsity of books for teens. "We sell a lot of children's and adult books but not enough in-between." Falling in the World Literacy Month of September, the emphasis of Book Fair 2004 was on higher education, with special emphasis on school children, said Rajaguru. "Even the inauguration began with honouring the four students who bagged the highest marks at the last A/L exams. We have also selected ten schools in nine provinces including the North and the East to install libraries on the International Children's Day on October 1." Sri Lanka Book Publishers' Association, the organisers of the book fair, recognise their future vision as one of improving the quality of local book production. One area which needs attention is to increase the supplementary readers available locally to academic and professional students. The other is developing professionals in writing, illustrations and other related areas in developing books, and opening global markets for local books. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
It is a healthy sign that the gamut of books and book accessories in
this year's display covered the entirety of the BMICH Main Hall area and
the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Exhibition Centre, in comparison to last year's
show, which was limited to the Sirimavo Centre. It shows that more reading
material had gone into print in the in-between time gap and the
anticipation which had foreseen this growing tendency for book
information.
