Book fair gets poor response

One hundred and eighty-five book publishers from across the country, took part in the 10-day national book festival, which concluded here on Sunday, and pooled up a retail sale of Rs 2.5 crore and an institutional sale of Rs 1 crore. They ran 257 stalls.

The turnover was same as that of last year,s. The book plublishers and the organisers were a little disappointed.

Books on individual orientation such as management, self-development, foreign languages, American English and books on stress release came first in the sales list. Next came books on spirituality, yoga, and other religious practices.

Books of old and new gurus also attracted book-lovers along with Bhagavad Gita, vedas, upanishads, Mahabharata and Ramayana. Non-fiction books scored over fiction books in the sales, a new trend in the Telugu people's reading tastes.

Books for children were sold with the usual gusto. Students and youth thronged science and technology stalls. All the big names in the publishing industry of the country erected stalls in the festival.