Print is still king
Should I buy: Visitors browse through the books on display at the book fair. Pic by Anuradha Bandara
Every year, as September arrives, bookworms wait in anticipation of the Colombo International Book Fair. This time is no different. If you missed the book fair the last few days, today’s your last chance to grab some bargains as the fair closes at the BMICH tonight at 9 p.m.
The books of course are the main draw, but the fair has expanded to offer many attractions for visitors. A stall explaining how books are printed had large crowds gathered eager to see how the process works. A demonstration using an outdated printing press showed people the old way of printing books. The entire printing process was demonstrated from where the ink was applied, how the pages were manually placed and the letters arranged one by one and the page finally printed.
Literary workshops organised by the Writers Organization of Sri Lanka saw Sinhala and Tamil authors, poets and academics conducting sessions on different aspects of Sri Lankan literature. Over the past few days, the workshops have covered short stories, poetry as well as children’s and youth literature. Today’s bilingual discussion will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on ‘The challenges faced in the field of literature by Sri Lankan authors’.
Targeted at poetry lovers, Sampath Bank’s ‘Katapath Pawura’, an initiative to promote poetry, had visitors writing poems in Sinhala on the paper provided and pinning it up on one wall. The best poems will be selected and published in a book next year.
There were the special interest sections too. Sarasa Publishers has a book stall dedicated to books written by popular Sinhala author Martin Wickramasinghe.
The ETL ( Educational Technologies Ltd) learning Sri Lanka stall offers parents a free 1 1/2 hour consultation on how to facilitate the mental development of their children. Known as the ‘after birth’ series, the company offers children below the age of 13 educational products which can help them develop their mental skills, an interest in reading and other productive activities.
The Book Publishers’ Association of Sri Lanka, Sampath Bank and ITN Sri Lanka have collaborated this year to launch a new card which will offer bookworms a year round discount of 10-20% at selected book stores. Titled ‘My book club’, the card can be used at any bookshop which is registered with the Book Publishers Association in Sri Lanka. Cards are being issued free of charge at the book fair. To use the card, one simply needs to activate it with Rs. 100.
The children’s activity centres saw many young readers spending quiet time drawing and listening to the children’s book readings. The many book signings held over the course of the book fair were also quite popular among people who were happy to have the chance to meet their favourite authors in person.
Ironically, a common lament among patrons of the book fair is the rising prices of books. However, there was one section in the book fair where the price of a ‘must have’ book didn’t elicit groans. The second hand book stall offers discounts on a variety of books and people could be seen scanning the shelves for novels, magazines and educational books in the hope of finding their favourite novels or authors at reasonable prices. The novels were being sold at prices as low as Rs. 200 while certain educational books were being sold at Rs. 20 each! This section of the book fair saw many people walking out with bags crammed full of books, having been able to spend a fraction of the money they would otherwise have spent on a single book.
Stall holders felt that sales were as good as usual, with many people commenting on the fact that the crowd was greater on weekends than on weekdays. That there were still people walking out of the book fair with bags full of books and smiles on their faces was proof enough that books are still popular and e-books haven’t killed print just yet.
Entrance tickets are priced at Rs. 20. A range of food and drink available makes a visit to the book fair an enjoyable outing for the family.