[5][6][7] The first Madras Book Fair had 22 stalls and was held at the Madrasa-i-Azam school due to the initiative of K. V. Mathew of B. I.

At the 12th Madras Book Fair held between 22 December 1989, and 1 January 1990, Tamil translations of WHO publications were put on sale.

In 2007, due to traffic congestion and the need for more space for the stalls,[10] the venue for the annual book fair was changed from Quaid-e-Milleth Women's College to St. George' School in Kilpauk.

In 2013, due to construction work on the Chennai Metro, the venue of the book fair was shifted to the YMCA grounds in Nandanam.

[13] The 2009 edition had over 600 stalls[14] and was attended by over one million people,[13] amongst whom were Chennai historian S. Muthiah, businessman Nalli Kuppuswami Chetti and Gnani Sankaran.

Book publishers from New Delhi, Agra, Hyderabad, Bangalore and various parts of Tamil Nadu participated in the fair.

[16][17] The 39th edition of Chennai Book Fair was not conducted in January 2016 due to the flood happened in Dec 2015.

[20] The 45th edition of the book fair, which was scheduled to begin from 6 January 2022, was postponed due to surge in COVID-19 cases.

The State government's "Illam Thedi Kalvi" initiative, a scientific exhibition, a Keezhadi photo gallery, and a display of vintage ceramic artifacts were all represented during this year's fair.

There were sculptures of former CM M Karunanidhi, well-known Tamil poet Tiruvalluvar, Buddha, former President APJ Abdul Kalam, Dravidian icon "Periyar" EV Ramasamy, and other luminaries available for purchase.

The book fair was subsequently moved to the Quaid-e-Milleth Government Arts College for Women in the late 1980s.

The Quaid-e-Milleth Government Arts College for Women remained the venue of the book fair till 2007, when the venue was shifted to St. George Anglo-Indian High Secondary School on the Poonamallee High Road due to space and parking constraints.