Hyderabad's annual book exhibition is back for the 34th exhibition, after the pandemic forced the organisers to skip the last one. And we are super excited as this 10-day long exhibition is nothing short of a festival as it brings several book stalls and shops from all across the country under one roof. With more than 150 stalls, the Hyderabad National Book Fair is where you can find a lot of regional literature. Yup, so vast that we assure you, you'll walk home with two bags full of Telugu/Hindi/Urdu literature.
In the past, we've spotted stalls of publishers like Penguin Random House, Hachette, Harper Collins, Bhavans, Emesco, Scholastic, Vyasa Publications, Navachethana Publishing House, and many more. Apart from new books, we also find old and unused stock along with preloved books. Hyderabad-based book stores like MR Book Centre, Best Book Centre, Unique Book Store, Book Mark, Arts & Letters have set up stalls before, and we hope the same for this round as well.
While we will give you an updated on-ground report the minute the fair opens, just so you know, past editions have seen us grab New Yorker's 75th Anniversary Cartoon Collection at INR 450, DC Comics' at INR 25 upwards, Tintin hard bounds at INR 400. Some stores from Bombay and Ahmedabad have brought home some rare finds by Italo Calvino and Sylvia Plath and if you are looking for Telugu literature from Sri Sri, Yadanapudi Sulochana Rani, Chalam, Bapu, you'll find them too.
In addition to just getting books, this is also a great opportunity to get the kids (and adults!) into reading via their cultural programmes, talks and discussions, and literary programmes too.
While they do say free entry if you show your student ID card, the price for general entry is currently unknown.