Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan inaugurates 32nd Vijayawada Book Festival

Vijayawada, January 01 (prajaamaravati): Andhra Pradesh Governor Sri Biswa Bhusan Harichandan inaugurated the 32nd Vijayawada Book Festival organized by Vijayawada Book Festival Society in Vijayawada on Saturday, from Raj Bhavan in virtual mode.

Speaking on the occasion, Governor Sri Harichandan said that the Vijayawada Book Festival provides a platform for book lovers and book enthusiasts to gather and browse through more than three lakh books in English, Telugu and Hindi languages, displayed by 200 publishers, participating from within and outside of Andhra Pradesh.

Governor Sri Harichandan said he is also an avid book-lover himself and a writer of patriotic literature in Odiya language and while in prison during the Emergency period and later on, he had availed the great resources for writing books such as Raana Pratap, Maru Bataas, Manasi etc. in Odia language.

The Governor further said he was happy to learn that the Vijayawada Book Festival Society has been successfully maintaining a library for the past 18 years, in addition to holding the annual Book Festival, by bringing good books and literature within the reach of book lovers. Libraries played a vital role in the freedom movement and helped the freedom fighters to spread the message of freedom struggle and carry forward the movement to reach the goal, said the Governor.

He said ‘As a writer and a book lover, I strongly appeal to all the parents to inculcate the habit of book reading among children at a young age, which will empower them with the knowledge as they grow up reading books.’

The Governor complimented the members of Vijayawada Book Festival Society for their efforts for organizing the annual 32nd Vijayawada Book Festival, on such a large scale with a view to encourage the habit of book reading and suggested that they should consider to publish selected works of eminent authors of other Indian languages into Telugu, so that the Telugu reader is exposed to the culture and history of other regions of the country.

Sri Velampalli Srinivas, Minister of Endowments, Sri Malladi Vishnu, MLA, Smt. R. Bhagya Lakshmi, Mayor of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation, Sri Manohar Naidu, President, Sri Vijay Kumar, EMESCO, Coordinator, Vijayawada Book Festival Society, have participated in the programme.