COIMBATORE: Around 175 publishers from Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi and Maharashtra will participate in the fourth edition of Coimbatore Book Festival to be held at Codissia trade fair complex from July 20 to 29.

The festival, organised by CODISSIA along with Book Sellers and Publishers Association of South India, will be inaugurated by School Education Secretary T. Udayachandran. CODISSIA will honour writer S.Ramakrishnan with lifetime achievement award during the inauguration.

Giving details to media persons, Chairman of the Book Festival S. Soundarajan said the festival will have various programmes like skits, debates and drama. “There will be a literary fest on July 21 and 22, where we will have a congregation of writers, poets and noted personalities from the literary world. We will also be conducting a literary movement called Arivukkeni.This programme will have elocution, drawing competition for school and college students in both English and Tamil. The winners will be given coupons with which they can buy books,” he said.

There will also be entertainment programmes and games for children on all days.

The previous edition of the book fair, which generated Rs. 2.5 crore revenue, had 60,000 visitors.

The festival is open between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. and entry is free.