COLOMBO, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday launched the Colombo International Book Fair, an annual mega book exhibition featuring local and international authors and publishers.
Speaking at the inauguration, the Sri Lankan president thanked the local and international publishers and authors for taking part in the book fair and encouraged more publishers to do so in the future.
On the same occasion, Chairman of Sri Lanka Book Publishers Association H. Premasiri said that over 400 international and local book stalls would be open at the exhibition including a Chinese section featuring books from well known authors in China.
"Last January, 15 publishers from Sri Lanka participated in a seminar held in China. This year, 4 officials from Sri Lanka participated in the Beijing Book Exhibition," Premasiri said.
The Chinese stalls are opened with an aim to promote books written by well known Chinese authors. This is the third year that China is participating in the exhibition.
Special stalls featuring books from Iran, Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh, India, Britain and Japan are also open at the fair.
The Colombo International Book Fair will be held for 10 days and is expected to attract thousands of visitors including tourists. This is the 19th book fair held in the island country.
