Comics continue to draw children to Chennai Book Fair

As the festival season begins in Tamil Nadu, booklovers in the city flocked to the Chennai Book Fair held at the YMCA grounds. Publishers and bookshop owners at the book fair pointed out that children’s comics and manga continue to remain a favourite among the public. While some comics such as the ‘Dogman’ were in demand, stall owners said that the demand for manga has declined.

“The interest in manga is high with books such as Naruto and Death Note still getting enquiries from children. However, the purchase of these books has come down compared to the last two-three years,” said M. Malar of Dream Ways publications.

Echoing her sentiments, Ramesh M.P. of Merwin Educational Solutions said that general comics such as the Wimpy Kid series are bought by many more parents. “The popularity of manga is still high, today many more stalls have stocked up on these comics but these sets are expensive. Many children leave disappointed when parents find the cost to be high,” he said

While one book of Naruto could cost about ₹800, a set of 27 in Volume costs nearly ₹20,000. As it’s also imported from Japan, some stores have decided to not stock up on it. “There are parents enquiring about the manga but the more feasible option has been the Dogman series. Children from the 7-12 age group have been flocking towards these books and picking TinTin and The Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” said Swaminathan Srinivasan from Nobel Publications.

But these children favourites have not been limited to the young ones, 26-year-old Kavyashree found children’s literature far more interesting. “The sheer variety of children’s literature at some of the shops have been great and for such affordable prices. Usually, these kinds of books would be priced higher online but we have bought quite a few for a steal. We found books on nose boogers and such,” she laughed.

Footfall

Meanwhile, book stall owners hope that the footfall increases in the coming two weeks. “So far, a footfall of five lakhs has been registered. But as Pongal holidays have begun it will increase. By the end of the book fair, a footfall of over 20 lakhs would definitely have been recorded,” said R. Venkatachalam, treasurer, Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India.