Ekushey Book Fair: Off-track titles on high demand

Off-track titles are on high demand at the month-long Ekushey Book Fair on the Bangla Academy premises, according to publishers.
Robin Ahsan, owner of Shraban Prakashan, found that there has been a revolutionary change in readers mindset and they have become more critical and analytical on any issue and that has been reflected in their buying habit.
He said the demand for his ‘off-track’ books was much more than the novels and collection of poems. He cited the autobiography of Fidel Castro, Bangladesher Chalachchitra:
Sangkate Janasangskriti by Geetiara Nasrin and Fahmidul Huq, Prashner Shakti by Anu Muhammad and Microcredit: Manufacturing Myth by Faruq Chowdhury.
Rezaul Karim Raju, a student of Dhaka University, was looking for the stall selling a compilation of lyrics of Mukunda Das, a popular bard of the anti-colonial movement.
As soon as he was helped to locate the stall, Raju did not wait a moment and rushed there to buy the 500-page expensive title on Thursday.
“I am usually fond of novels and buy them from the fair. But in recent years, I found many uncommon books and got interested in them. Mukunda Das is a famous poet but I never found any book regarding him or his songs,” he said proudly holding the book in his hand.
Booksellers at the fair said usually the most demanded genre is novel and poems but in recent times people’s attraction has increased on other genres too.
Books on nature were also going better and a number of titles by Dwijen Sharma, Bipradash Barua and Mokarram Hossain on flora and fauna were doing good, said salesmen.
Sahitya Prakash is bringing out a number of memoirs by noted personalities and this year they published Dinu Billah’s memoirs on Ajit Guha’s residence in Old Dhaka.
This genre was mostly ignored by publishers in the past, but in recent times interest in the genre is growing. Oitijjhya published six memoirs and autobiographies.
Chief executive of Oitijjhya, Arifur Rahman Nayeem, said all of them were selling good.
Asked about the reasons for bringing out such titles, Nayeem said, “Readership is decreasing for many reasons but the taste of people is being elevated gradually. I now don’t fear to invest a huge amount on such titles.”
People may be tired of the typical storytelling pattern of novels and are switching over to other genres, he said citing the sale of the translation of William Dalrymple’s ‘The Last Mughal’.
Reprint of classic literatures was also on high demand, said the sellers. In an age of dozen of television channels, readers’ interest has also grown in the making of television programmes.
A visitor at Mizan Publishers said she bought the title by Shahed Zahedi’s ‘Sangbadik, Upasthapak, Parichalak Haoar Abhinaba Upay’ which tells the means of becoming a presenter in a television channel.
Unlike all other genres, recipes and fashion books also made way in people’s choice. Two giant publishers brought recipes on ‘desi’ food and another publisher brought a manual for makeup.
A large number of visitors were found carrying packets of new books they bought from different stalls of the fair. Many moved around the fair venue after buying books.
At the Bangla Academy sales centre, demand of dictionary was high. The Bangla Academy, as part of its regular programmes, held a discussion on ‘Language Movement’ on it premises on the day.

Courtesy of BSS via The New Nation