The month-long Amar Ekushey Book Fair began on the Bangla Academy premises on Friday.
With 274 stalls, the fair was inaugurated by the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, in the afternoon. She said that there was option but to study other languages and
cultures to develop the Bangla language and asked the academy to have plans in this direction.
The 30th edition of the event in its present form this year has been dedicated to the late writer Humayun Ahmed, who died in July 2012.
At least 15 publishing houses failed to complete their stalls in the fair ground, which this year is confined only to the academy premises, in breach of rules that
stipulate that authorities could cancel the allotment of any stall if it was not completed before the beginning of the fair.
Such errant publishing houses include Kamrul Book House, Jyoti Praksah, Gati Prakashani, Bishakha, Oikya, Ghashphul, Jatiya Grantha Kendra, Ali Ghar, Jatiyatabadi
Prakashana Sangstha and Banalata.
Visitors felt uncomfortable as many stalls were still hammering out the stall structures with planks, papers and other materials heaped near by.
The fair organising committee’s member secretary Shahida Khatun told New Age that the fair would be in its full shape by Saturday adding that the publishing houses
could not ready their stalls because of some security measures.
The academy, which organises the fair, has kept the stalls confined to the academy premises. Officials said that because of this, they cut down the number of stalls to
274, from the 425 that were there in 2012.
The academy at a press briefing on Thursday said they were not allowing any socio-political, organisations and non-governmental organisations in the fair this year.
More than 60 new titles hit the stalls in the fair on the first day, with volumes of essays and novels leading the tally.
The fair will run till 9:00pm beginning at 3:00pm on week days and at 11:00am at weekends and on holidays. It will begin at 8:00am and run till 9:00pm on February 21.
The academy will be holding seminars on the lives and works of scholars of the Bangla language and cultural programmes in the fair ground every day.
-With New Age input
