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Books at Book Fair now three times more expensive

19 Sep 2022

By Dinitha Rathnayake   Prices of books at the 2022 edition of the Colombo International Book Fair, which opened on Friday (16) at the BMICH after a lapse of two years, have been much higher than in previous years. Speaking to The Morning, author Mohan Raj Madawala claimed that book prices have increased threefold. “Since the book fair was not held last year, we see a lot of people coming. This is a different culture and a trend, and people love to enjoy reading and stay leisurely at the book fair. But the main issue is the prices of books. A book priced at Rs. 400 is around Rs. 1500 now.” He also said as the country has to stop importing paper from other countries and have a permanent solution where we manufacture paper unless the future generation of Sri Lanka would face a lot of difficulties to continue their studies. “Paper price has increased four times and the publishers and the authors are helpless,” he added. Meanwhile, author and journalist Nadie Wasalamudaliarachchi also speaking to The Morning said: “Everyone in Sri Lanka who loves literature awaits the month of literature in September. Many people collect money to buy books at the beginning of the year, from January onwards. But I think this year is not a good year for Sri Lankans.  “For Sri Lankans who have been engaged in a lifelong struggle, economic inflation is like a bull hitting a man who fell from a tree. A book of 114 pages printed on Dimai paper costs Rs. 750! This situation is not good at all. When the cheap books in the market run out, the buying of books is likely to decrease, because the selling price of new prints is too much to bear. In short, we can buy five books with the money that used to be able to buy 20 books.” The Colombo International Book Fair 2022 will be held from 16-25 September. This annual event, which extends over a week, is organised by the Sri Lanka Book Publishers Association for the 23rd time.  


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