India remains, for TNPS, the most exciting publishing prospect on the planet.

Running November 29 through December 8, 2024, at the Ernakulathappan Grounds in Kochi, Kerala, this festival is one of India’s premier book festivals and the largest in Kerala, connecting readers of all ages and backgrounds with local, national, and international authors, publishers, and booksellers.

Key Highlights:

Inauguration: West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose opened the event yesterday.

Speakers: The event’s speakers include academic and writer M.K. Sanoo, Mayor M. Anilkumar, and MLA T.J. Vinod.

Awards: The Governor’s Award will be presented to young poet Sreenivasan Thuneri.

Events: The festival includes various events such as seminars, panel discussions, art and cultural programs, and literary competitions.

Participants: Around 200 writers and 200 stalls will be part of the festival. Typically the event attracts a crowd of 10,000 per day.

Kochi Literature Festival

Simultaneously, the 8th Kochi Literature Festival will be held from December 4 through 8, featuring debates on current issues, presentations by literary greats alongside debut writers, and a vibrant program of cultural events.

Publishing’s Brightest Prospect

As the summer heat recedes, the India book fair calendar, which seems to never rest, ramps up its schedule, with tens of millions of people heading for Indian book fairs and festivals in the coming months. The New Delhi World Book Fair and the Kolkata International Book Fair regularly attract millions of visitors.

As the largest country in the world by population (India took that crown from China in 2022), and home to some of the biggest book fairs in the world (the 100,000 visitors expected at Kochi is a drop in the ocean for India!), India remains, for TNPS, the most exciting publishing prospect on the planet.

Almost 1 Billion Internet Users

Back in 2017 when I wrote that post for TNPS, India had 462 million people online. Today, India is still only at 66% internet penetration, but that equates to 936 million people online, almost three times that of the USA.

This post first appeared in the TNPS LinkedIn newsletter.