The stalls are readied and the tomes are stacked, and readers have plenty to look forward to at the 19th edition of the Kochi International Book Festival (KIBF). Despite cries of the reading habit dropping off among the current generation, and the domination of the digital medium over the printed word, the festival keeps getting bigger every year.
“Organising this festival is six months of work for our team of 100-odd members, divided into around 14 committees,” says E.N. Nandakumar, secretary of the Antharashtra Pusthakotsava Samithi (APS). “What we have been trying to do is bridge the disconnect between writers, publishers and educational institutions when it comes to reading, with a particular focus on schools,” he adds.
In the run-up to the event, the organisers conducted children’s book festivals at over a 100 schools in the district, where students were encouraged to bring in books from home and display them. In order to encourage active functioning of school libraries, the team also reached out to and received help from local autorickshaw drivers and construction workers, who contributed a day’s wages towards purchasing books for school libraries.
“Despite our claims of being literate, there are still many children who cannot write their own name properly, and that is why we use the festival to focus on children and encourage reading,” Nandakumar adds.
Started in 1997 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of India’s independence, the KIBF has been going strong for 18 years, but the story of book festivals in the State goes back much further. “The concept first emerged in the State almost six decades ago when books from the Soviet Union were sold at low prices by Prabhat Book House, with the backing of the Soviet Embassy,” says T. Jayachandran of CICC Books. “Afterwards, a few of us publishers banded together to start a Kochi Book Fair, but in the chaos that followed the demolition of the Babri Masjid, we lost steam and it never picked up again. The pustaka chandha (book market) began in the 80s when Thrissur-based Mangoladayam Books was taken over by DC Books. All this acquired material was sold in bulk at this ‘market’, and this trend was taken up by other bodies such as the Rotary Club, which carried on for a few years.”
Since 1997, the KIBF has been the go-to place for readers and publishers alike, owing in part to the impartial nature of the organising committee. “As the festival is not conducted by a particular publishing house, all the sellers have full control over what they sell and what they earn, which is an advantage,” says Jayachandran.
“Over the years, the turnout has only increased, despite people complaining that the younger generation does not read enough. I think more than that, it is a matter of youngsters not reading what the previous generation expects them to, rather than the habit being on the decline,” says Nandakumar, who also believes that the digital revolution is a necessary progression. “We’re looking at addressing the need of over a billion people, and that cannot be done through a single medium. Both physical and digital versions have their own merits and are not working against each other.”
Kochi, according to both Nandakumar and Jayachandran, is one of the reasons a book festival like KIBF has thrived over the years. “Unlike many other districts, Kochi is affluent due to being a business-centric area, where people do not live paycheck-to-paycheck. Also, the large floating population ensures that such events always have a following,” says Jayachandran.
Nandakumar attributes the very climate of Kerala as one that aids the habit of reading, and insists that the State has much unused potential, particularly in setting up world-class libraries. “Shops tend to stock the books that sell best, but sometimes the books best for reading are not the books best for selling, which is where libraries and books festivals come in,” he says.
Curated carefully over months by publishers and booksellers based on their own experience and sensibilities, the KIBF is sure to provide something for even the pickiest of page-turners and provide a shot in the arm for what Nandakumar calls “the culture of reading.”
The KIBF will be inaugurated today at 4 p.m. and will be on from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. till December 13 at the Ernakulathappan Grounds. 170 bookstalls are expected.
