Metro rail to make huge rush in Book Fair

The curtain will rise with festivity in a few days. To make it a memorable event, the Bangla Academy authorities are doing all the work on their own responsibility.

The Amar Ekushey Book Fair is here again after a year. The curtain will rise with festivity in a few days. To make it a memorable event, the Bangla Academy authorities are doing all the work on their own responsibility. After the allotment of stalls and pavilions on January 23, the publishers started decorating them to attract the readers' attention.

This year's fair will start on February 1, with the prime minister inaugurating the month-long event and distributing the Bangla Academy Literary Award among the 16 receivers in 11 categories.

During a visit to the Suhrawardy Udyan and Bangla Academy premises on Friday, the publishers were busy with their associates organizing the tasks and giving instructions to the carpenters about where to place banners, signboards, nameplates, and shelves, among others.

A total of 895 stalls have been allocated to 573 organizations this year. Among them, 786 are general stalls, while 109 are dedicated to the Little Mag Corner. Moreover, there are 37 pavilions this year. 

Last year, 901 stalls were allocated in favour of 601 organizations.

Publishers sounded hopeful as they said there would be a huge crowd this year due to the advent of the metro rail station beside the venue in the Dhaka University area and the rise in the number of youths writing and reading books.

Rajib Dutta, proprietor of Granthrajya Publications, was supervising the construction of the stall. Talking to Bangla Tribune at Suhrawardy Udyan, he hoped that more books would be sold this time. "Book fair means publishers have a wish that readers will come and sales will increase. Readership is gradually increasing in our country. I can see the reflection of this by looking at the rate of purchase of books online and offline."

The stall's decoration would finish by next Tuesday, he said. "I can pick up the books and arrange the whole stall on Wednesday. Our expectations about the book fair are always high."

Timuni Khan Rino has been anchoring a show at the fair for 34 years to introduce new books, writers, and poets and unveil the covers. He was seen spending time with the publishers on the fair premises.

Hoping that this year's book fair would succeed, he said: "Everyone, including writers, readers, and publishers, will be able to do their work beautifully. The organizing committee of the fair will also perform proper duties."

He called upon the organizers for sound management as he lamented the small space allotted for the Little Mag Corner.

Ahmed Munir, the owner of Uchchhas Prakashani, said that this year's book fair will see bigger crowds than ever.

"Many people will come from different parts of Dhaka as well as outside the capital because of easy communication due to the metro rail. So readers can come to the fair very easily in less time," he added.

Shirin Publishers owner Mamun Khan Yusufzai said: "The book fair is the fair of our lives, the festival of life. It is a fair of sharing knowknowledge inspiring the readers. Apart from that, the readership will also increase due to this year's metro rail."

Israt Jahan, proprietor of Chilekotha Publishing House, said: "We have to finish the work of the stall by January 30 according to the instructions of Bangla Academy. We will finish the work on time. I hope this book fair will be very good."