The Bangla Academy brought the curtain down on the world’s largest annual book fair ‘Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2024’ on Saturday, highlighting the country’s Bangla languages, literature, novel, poem, heritage and cultures. This year Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2024 had been extended by two days beyond the scheduled time.
Although Amar Ekushey book fair saw fewer number of visitors on the last day, the month-long extravaganza drew huge crowds almost every day this year. Most of the visitors were seen busy with photography instead of purchasing books. They did not seem to buy the books but busy taking photos, gossiping and roaming in and around the fair venue. Many of them raised questions about the standard and quality of books and publications.
This year the book fair has witnessed a huge crowd since its launching. However, many visitors were seen browsing the stalls and buying books, while others were waiting for their favourite authors to come to the fair. Both authors and publishers were unhappy as this year’s book fair has not witnessed a record sale.
Most of the visitors were
seen busy with photography
instead of purchasing books
Book fairs, passionate book reading and giving books as gifts are gradually growing in our country. Amar Ekushey Book Fair is playing a significant role in increasing both the readers and writers and building a knowledge-based society in this era of social media.
Book fair is working as means of campaign and publicity of books which is very necessary to create readers. If our authors and poets can write good books, the number of booklovers will increase while the sale of books will also increase. Apart from Amar Ekushey Book Fair, many other book fairs are also being held in the country evoking a good response. We think it is a very good sign that the number of readers and writers are on the rise.
Apart from literature, novel and poem, the public and private universities should focus on research and publications and join different book fairs to create quality readers in the country. We the Bangali nation want to move ahead with our head high as Amar Ekushey (February 21) taught us so. This year, the entire work of the fair was done by Bangla Academy alone to avoid any criticism. In the previous years, some event management companies were involved in the fair arrangement which faced some criticism last year. Along with cultural programmmes and month-long seminars, there were arrangements for children and teenagers which include drawing, music and recitation competitions. The Amar Ekushey Book Fair is a festival dedicated to people. The book lovers will have to wait one year till the Amar Ekushey Book Fair in 2025.
