Singapore Illakiam stalls at book fair attract literature lovers

CHENNAI: Tamil culture and literature have travelled across countries all over the world and reached a larger audience. At the ongoing Chennai Book Fair, stalls (534 and 535) titled ‘Singapore Illakiam’ have many stories to tell about the Singaporean Tamils and the writers.

“The books sold in the stalls are authored by Singapore Tamils. Books of more than 60 authors are sold in the book fair with more than 1,000 books. The authors specialised in poems, novels, historical books, and books that tell about how Singapore was formed by Tamilians, and for short story collections there are more female writers,” said Prema Mahalingam, author, and secretary of the Association of Singapore Tamil Writers.

“There is a book on the first 200 Tamilians who have contributed to the growth of Singapore society not only in literature but in all other areas of the economy. The books on how Singapore has grown and formed as a nation are having a huge sale at the fair. The books also tell about lifestyle and problems faced by the Tamilians themselves and their families,” she said.

Short story collections have the highest number of sales at the book fair along with historical books of Singapore. Apart from the readers from Chennai, there are also visitors from Malaysia visiting the stall.

“The response from the readers has been overwhelming. The readers who visit the stalls are curious to know the Singaporean style of writing, their lifestyles, and the culture,” she added.

The publications in the stall are from India, Malaysia, and Singapore but the authors are from the last mentioned country. They are either Singaporean Tamils or people with permanent Singapore residence permits.

Singapore has four major official languages, i.e.; English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil. Tamil is one of the official languages in Singapore.

“In Singapore, to uphold Tamil culture one month-long celebration is dedicated to the Tamil language which is known as ‘Tamil Mozhi Maatham’” says Prema.

The Singapore stall is being hosted for the fourth time at the Chennai Book Fair, she added.