The outbreak of Covid 19 (Cororna virus) is causing economic disruption in many sectors in Sri Lanka including publishing,Printing and international supply chain.
Covid 19 became a global pandemic .it was so powerfull to up down our annual Time table. We had to cancelled our Kandy Book Fair and Rajatha Pustaka award ceremony scheduled to be held in month of June 2020. The prestigious 22nd Colombo International Book Fair will be held at BMICH from 18th to 27th September 2020
The Book Fair was started 21 years ago in 1999 at National Art Gallery with 28 book stalls. Over the years it has transformed into a largest Book Fair in south Asia region with participation of international Publishers from wide range of countries including India, Malasiya, China, Japan,Singapore,and UK.
Due to present situation foreign Books stalls will be managed by their local Agents in Sri Lanka. There wil be many book launching ceremonies daily and we expect around 500 new books to be launched during the Book Fair.
The foreign publishers’ stalls managed by local agents will also have a range of imported new books on offer at economical prices this year.
COLOMBO INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR 2019 4 The Sri Lanka Book publishers’ Association’s aims are to recognize the requirements of the reading public and to create this ideal atmosphere.
These will help to establish a Book Culture which is prevalent in developed countries. This may be a new concept in Sri Lanka but it is the hope of the Association to build such a culture.
We will strive earnestly to reach this goal. We are grateful to our sponsors for the support they have given us and to all the stall holders and service providers and also the media.
We are glad that this year too we could work with our members and also the Ceylon Book sellers Importers & Exporters Association and the Samastha Lanka Poth Welanda Sangamaya to make the Fair a success.
Upali Wanigasuriya