Lesser footfall at Bangalore Book Festival this year

Seven-day event comes to a close

The Bangalore Book Festival, 2015, came to an end on Sunday with over one lakh visitors thronging the event that took place over the course of seven days.

Book sellers, however, were of the opinion that the numbers were far lesser than previous editions of the fair at Palace Grounds.

Last year the fest was held at JP Nagar and the year before that, it was not held at all on account of some disagreement with the government over its duration.

V Srinivas Murthy, member of the Bangalore Booksellers’ and Publishers’ Association and the festival’s organising committee, said, “Over one lakh people have visited the fest this year. Last year when it was conducted in JP Nagar, the figure was around 60,000 to 70,000 visitors.”   

Ajay Pandey, a bookseller from Mumbai, was of the opinion that the previous editions of the fair at the Palace grounds used to be a jam-packed affair.

“The venue used to be so full of people that there would hardly be any place for people to even walk. I have participated in almost all the editions of the fair. With the fair not being held here for the last two years, I think the momentum has been lost to some extent.”

V Rajan, another seller, said, “The fair started off slow and business has been good only in the last three days. The fact that it was not conducted for a few years at this venue might have affected the number of people coming here. Also, many people may have not wanted to come now since it is being held during festivities and holidays.”

The book exhibition was jointly organised by the Bangalore Booksellers’ and Publishers’ Association and Indya Comics.