About the venue

The Madras Literary Society is a learned society in Chennai (earlier called Madras), India which was founded in 1817[1] and in 1830 it became associated with the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. It was founded by Sir John Henry Newbolt, Chief Justice of Madras with Benjamin Guy Babington as the founder secretary. The library run by the society in a red sandstone building in the Department of Public Instruction complex in Nungambakkam is the oldest functional public library in the city and one of the oldest in India.