The Chennai International Book Fair (CIBF) 2026 got under way on Friday (January 16, 2026) with participation from authors and publishers from 102 countries, the largest in its four-year history.
Speakers at the inaugural session underscored the importance of translated literature in being the backbone of cultural exchanges across civilisations. Harping on the theme ‘A Conversation Between Civilisations’, the speakers outlined the importance of a platform like the CIBF that provides opportunities for such exchanges.
At its inception in 2023, the CBIF had participation from 24 countries, which grew to 40 in 2024 and 64 in 2025. Over 2,000 Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) have been signed at the CIBF, getting the works of more than 200 Indian authors translated to over 50 international languages, the speakers added.
In her keynote, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, DMK parliamentary party leader, said translated works opened doors into the lives, struggles, politics, and dreams of the people of a particular land. Today, as barriers are being put up in the name of religion, race, caste, it is literature that has the power to break them down.
‘A structured marketplace’
Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, Tamil Nadu School Education Minister, said the CIBF was a “structured marketplace where publishers, agents, translators engage with clarity and intent”. It was a matter of pride that out of the 200 Indian authors whose works were translated to foreign languages, 90 were from the State. The Tamil Nadu government, he said, annually provided about 200 translation grants of $2,500 each to promote the translation of Tamil literature into foreign languages.
Claudia Kaiser, vice president – Business Development, Frankfurt Book Fair, said that one of the main goals of Frankfurt Book Fair was to bring Tamil literature to the world and create opportunities for exchange. Acknowledging the presence of German publisher Christian Weiss, who has published translated works from Tamil to German, she said there were very few people who knew Tamil well enough to translate to their own language.
Etienne Rolland-Piegue, Consul General of France, said a large delegation of foreign professionals, authors, and industry experts have come to Chennai to meet their counterparts at CIBF. France, he added, was a dynamic market for foreign literature with more than 30% of published fiction books being translations. The choice of Tamil books translated to French was rare but recently, Tamil writers, such as Perumal Murugan (translated to French by Leticia Ibanez), have found their way into French library shelves.
Speaking of his government’s initiative to empower the rural heartland, S. Madhu Bangarappa, Karnataka Minister for School Education and Literacy, said 5,700 libraries have been set up in gram panchayats in that State, many of which are being upgraded to digital knowledge hubs.
B. Chandramohan, School Education Secretary, Tamil Nadu, said language was the lifeblood of a civilisation. It carries memory, literature preserves it, and translation takes it to new worlds.
S. Jayandhi, Director of Public Libraries, and M. Aarthi, Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Textbooks Corporation, also spoke.
Published – January 16, 2026 05:20 pm IST
