Book lovers in the City are in for a treat with the ensuing Bangalore Book Festival - 2015 scheduled to be held from October 19 to 25 at Palace Grounds, promises to be bigger and better.





The festival this time will have more than 300 stalls including about 100 dedicated to Kannada books , besides many offering books in Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Telugu, Malyalam and the mainstream English book stalls with over a million book titles.



The 11-year-old festival, jointly organised by the Bangalore Booksellers’ and Publishers’ Association and Indya Comics, this year will have many firsts including felicitation to noted Kannada writers besides quiz and painting competitions for schools and college students, and cultural bonanza every evening.



Besides, there will be also an exhibition of award winning cartoons by the Karnataka Cartoonists’ Associations and a similar exhibition by the Karnataka Photographers’ Association, showcasing award winning pictures of wildlife and nature.



Speaking at the launch of the official logo and brochure of the festival, Nitin Shah, president of the Bangalore Book Sellers’ and Publishers’ Association said, “Publishers and booksellers from across the country including Delhi, Ahemdabad , Chennai, Mumbai etc will be participating in the festival. This year, the festival coincides with Dasara festivities and that is why we decided to have cultural evenings.”



He said Kannada Development Authority is also expected to extend subsidy to Kannada book stalls that participate in the fair. “Talks are on with the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce to rope in film stars to visit the festival everyday to draw large number of crowds,” he added.



Veteran Kannada writer Dr Sumateendra Nadig said, “This book festival reminds me of Kolkata Book Festival which used to be like an actual festival or a celebrations where one could meet artists, writers, folk dancers all under one roof. I hope that this festival also becomes a huge success like the Kolkata Book Festival”.

