Calicut, the historical city of Kerala, is privileged to roll out the red carpet for an International Book Festival being conducted from 8th to 15th December, 2009 in the city of transnational culture from time immemorial under the aegis of State Institute of Languages, Dept. of culture, Govt. of Kerala. The State of Kerala, well known as the first total literate state in India, is also the land of book lovers. The rich and varied cultural heritage makes it a unique and beautiful state with a lot of voracious readers, writers and scholars. With the advent of electronic media, there was an apprehension that end of reading was imminent. But all those doom predictions are proved wrong now. Books still enjoy the status of the primary carrier of ideas and they would continue to remain the same in future also. In short, this Book Festival at Calicut is going to be a spectacular event for the book lovers and a flourishing market for the publishers and distributors. Welcome to the International Book Festival, Calicut.