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The Chennai International Book Fair (CIBF) 2026 got nether mode connected Friday (January 16, 2026) with information from authors and publishers from 102 countries, the largest successful its four-year history.
Speakers astatine the inaugural league underscored the value of translated lit successful being the backbone of taste exchanges crossed civilisations. Harping connected the taxable ‘A Conversation Between Civilisations’, the speakers outlined the value of a level similar the CIBF that provides opportunities for specified exchanges.
At its inception successful 2023, the CBIF had information from 24 countries, which grew to 40 successful 2024 and 64 successful 2025. Over 2,000 Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) person been signed astatine the CIBF, getting the works of much than 200 Indian authors translated to implicit 50 planetary languages, the speakers added.
In her keynote, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, DMK parliamentary enactment leader, said translated works opened doors into the lives, struggles, politics, and dreams of the radical of a peculiar land. Today, arsenic barriers are being enactment up successful the sanction of religion, race, caste, it is lit that has the powerfulness to interruption them down.
‘A structured marketplace’
Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, Tamil Nadu School Education Minister, said the CIBF was a “structured marketplace wherever publishers, agents, translators prosecute with clarity and intent”. It was a substance of pridefulness that retired of the 200 Indian authors whose works were translated to overseas languages, 90 were from the State. The Tamil Nadu government, helium said, annually provided astir 200 translation grants of $2,500 each to beforehand the translation of Tamil lit into overseas languages.
Claudia Kaiser, vice president – Business Development, Frankfurt Book Fair, said that 1 of the main goals of Frankfurt Book Fair was to bring Tamil lit to the satellite and make opportunities for exchange. Acknowledging the beingness of German steadfast Christian Weiss, who has published translated works from Tamil to German, she said determination were precise fewer radical who knew Tamil good capable to construe to their ain language.
Etienne Rolland-Piegue, Consul General of France, said a ample delegation of overseas professionals, authors, and manufacture experts person travel to Chennai to conscionable their counterparts astatine CIBF. France, helium added, was a dynamic marketplace for overseas lit with much than 30% of published fabrication books being translations. The prime of Tamil books translated to French was uncommon but recently, Tamil writers, specified arsenic Perumal Murugan (translated to French by Leticia Ibanez), person recovered their mode into French room shelves.
Speaking of his government’s inaugural to empower the agrarian heartland, S. Madhu Bangarappa, Karnataka Minister for School Education and Literacy, said 5,700 libraries person been acceptable up successful gram panchayats successful that State, galore of which are being upgraded to integer cognition hubs.
B. Chandramohan, School Education Secretary, Tamil Nadu, said connection was the lifeblood of a civilisation. It carries memory, lit preserves it, and translation takes it to caller worlds.
S. Jayandhi, Director of Public Libraries, and M. Aarthi, Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Textbooks Corporation, besides spoke.
