Sahitya Akademi's annual sale ends todayu00a0 It's a non-glamorous office in Sharda Cinema building, Dadar, but the air is thick with the smell of books at the Sahitya Akademi Mumbai branch. The annual sale of books and CDs ends today. It's just one of the 50-odd sales held by the Akademi every year, in different states. The prices range from Rs 10 to Rs 500. On offer are classics, the histories of languages, author biographies, literary journals and films on authors in several languages: English, Hindi, Marathi, Urdu, Kashmiri, Tamil to name a few. The Sahitya Akademi was established by the government in 1954 to recognise differentu00a0 languages. Its mainstay is translating classics into different Indian languages, so they're accessible to all. <img alt="" src="/imagedata/2009/dec/yello.jpg" border="2" /> The Akademi conducts literary programmes including meetings with authors, workshops and also recognises authors in 24 languages with 24 annual awards.u00a0 In view of the several international publishing houses sweeping the book market with their glossy covers, the Akademi is also trying to change for the better, says officer-in-charge J Ponnudurai. Since the Akademi is a non-profit organisation, it can venture into off beat subjects without worrying about their saleability. "We could print just 300 copies of a book," he says. The Akademi sells over 7,000 titles every year. The smaller districts and towns are where sales are maximum. Tagore's works, reprinted several times,u00a0 are the most popular. The Akademi also brings out books which serve as records for mainly oral languages which have no written matter like the north-eastern dialects of Khasi Garo etc. As Ponnudurai makes clear the aim of the Akademi: "We make sure no language dies."u00a0 Sahitya Akademi Sale ends today. Call 24135744/1948

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