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Amar Ekushey Book Fair

Massive turnout as end nears


Published : 26 Feb 2020 09:15 PM | Updated : 06 Sep 2020 03:31 AM

Hundreds and thousands of booklovers from every walk of life and of diverse interests have been visiting the Amar Ekushey Book Fair since the beginning of February and this has been continuing as this month-long gathering of book lovers continues. Visitors of all ages are seen flocking to different stalls and pavilions to buy books of their favourite authors and read the titles. Many of them were seen returning homes with bags of books.

The month long ‘Amar Ekushey Book Fair’ on Wednesday hit the 25-consecutive day of the fair. In the last days of month-long country’s biggest book fair, the fairground gets an animated look. Many were seen taking pictures with smiling faces along with their friends, family and mates to remember the joyous moment of the fair.

As the massive crowd thronged the fair, the sellers struggled to manage large numbers of visitors busy to buy books as per their choices. Publishers and the sellers of different publications were seen excited as their books were selling well. Talking to Bangladesh Post, Ahmad Hossain, a seller of Bayanno publication, said, “We are excited to see the enthusiasm of booklovers. The whole fairground gets animated and our sales reached the peak point as the fair is nearing its end.”

Another seller of the stall, Kamrun Nahar, said, “This year, atmosphere of the book fair is better compared to prior years. Wide premises with tight security and biggest number of stalls have attracted booklovers. No uncouth incident has tak              en place so far.”

Tuhin Emran, a student of Dhaka University said, “I came today to buy some books of my favorite authors. I am excited to see this enthusiasm and festive look of the book fair.”

“Everyone should come at the fair. This is not the only place to buy the books but it is also a great place to enjoy with persons who are dear to us,” he added. This year, the authorities have allotted 179 units at the Bangla Academy ground to 126 organisations and 694 at the Suhrawardy Udyan to 434 organisations and a total of 34 pavilions have been allocated this year.

Like previous year, stalls for the mainstream publishing houses have been built inside the Suhrawardy Udyan while government organisations and the Bangla Academy stalls have been placed within the Bangla Academy compound.  Holding of the fair on the Bangla Academy premises began informally in 1972, only to be institutionalised in 1978. The fair was then named Amar Ekushey Granthamela and subsequently a guideline for it was formulated in 1984.