1.8 million attendance at Book Fair

BANGKOK, April 9 (TNA) -- The 46th National Book Fair and 16th International Book Fair concluded with tremendous success with more than 1.8 million people attending the event while the most popular books are reported to be historical novels. Suchada Sahasakul, the president of the Publishers and Booksellers Association of Thailand said that the event which was held at the Queen Sirikit Convention Centre from March 29 to April 8 was an overwhelming success. In all, more that 420 local publishing houses setup 945 booths. The theme for this year's event is 'Read...Again'. The majority of the more than 1.8 million attendees were children and youths followed by young professionals. Ms Suchada said the current trend is historical related books such as historical fiction, documentaries and educational cartoons and comics followed by light novels and youth novels. "Historical novels both fiction and nonfiction are receiving tremendous attention not least for historical figures such as Constantine Falcon, Thao Thong Keeb Mah, Chao Phraya Kosathobodhi. Interest in Thai history is significant as well especially for the political and diplomatic culture during the Ayutthaya period under the reign of King Narai. No doubt this is due in no small part to the immense popularity of the smash hit Thai soap opera Love Destiny broadcasted on Channel 3 which is encouraging more interest in Thailand's history" said Ms Suchada. The event also featured reprints of the first Thai textbook Jindamanee which sold out on the very first day. Additional orders had to be taken and in total approximately 10,000 issues of Jindamanee were sold. Ms. Suchada closed by stating that despite the comparatively slow economy there were 400 new publications at the 46th National Book Fair. All publishers expressed their pleasure on the number of books sold during the event. (TNA)