If you’re a book lover head to the BMICH today
By Oshani Alwis
In this era of modern technology if someone doubts the existence of book lovers, look no further than the Colombo International Book Fair. In its 19th consecutive year , the book fair is still drawing the crowds -bookworms of all ages, from kids looking out for magical children’s stories and fancy stationery to young and older people in search of fiction and academic texts, they’re all there browsing among the book stalls.
On from September 15, the fair which ends today at the BMICH, is organised by the Sri Lanka Book Publishers’ Association, and has 460 book stalls this year including foreign publication stalls, most offering a 20 % discount.
The secondhand books at the bargain stalls are popular among the English readership. Lakshani from Kurunegala was hunting for the books of Barbara Taylor Bradford, one of her favourite writers at one of these secondhand book stalls when we met her. “This is the first time I’m visiting the book fair but my daughter is a regular visitor every year. It is amazing to find such a lot of books in one place,” she said.
Ranjan Perera, Senior Manager of Sarasavi Bookshop revealed the books which have been selling fast this year include Fifty Shades of Grey, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Dan Brown’s books and I am Malala, the autobiography of Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai. Children are still eager to buy Enid Blyton books. The books that have received the State Literary Award 2017 and the Swarna Pusthaka 2017 are popular among the Sinhala readership while ‘Janadhipathi Thaththa’ launched on September 15 has already sold 10,000 copies. “It is always good to go in search of new books rather than coming in with a fixed list. Then we can recommend some interesting stuff you might miss otherwise,” he said.
Manju (25), a regular visitor to the fair each year is more interested in fiction. “The book fair gives people a chance to buy their favourite books all in one place. This cultivates interest in reading and people who usually do not read much tend to buy books when they see so much around. Even children are becoming more interested in buying books,” she states.
The Jeya Book Centre stall was predominantly selling medical books and English fiction and according to their representatives, the Hunger Games series,the Divergent series, Steve Jobs’ biography, and Cecelia Ahern’s novels are best sellers this year.
Most of the bookshops were using paper bags and eco friendly bags for purchases.
A group of girls from the Sri Lanka Technological Campus (SLTC) sitting on the floor near a stall surrounded by paper bags filled with books were looking to open up a library at their institute. “We have already bought lots of books at reasonable prices,” they said, happy with their purchases.
Sadeepa, Sathara, Malpiyali, Wasana, Akura, Promate, Richard are some of the favourite book and stationery stalls among children and students.
The many food and beverage stalls of Coca-Cola, Elephant House, Smak, Nescafe, Maggi, Prima, Keells Krest and Mt. Lavinia Hotel food court were also doing brisk business.
The book fair ends today at 9 p.m.