Few books by women writers hit stalls

Ekushey book fair
Few books by women writers hit stalls
A small number of books by woman writers have hit the stalls in this year’s Ekushey Book Fair, although some popular publishers do not have books by women writer this year.
Osman Gani, publisher of Agami Prakashani, said they brought to the fair two new books by women writers. Andhare Alo by Dipika Ghosh and Janmantar Jupiter by Shamim Azad had a good sale in the fair.
The number of books, especially novels, by women writers, however, is lesser this year compared with the previous fairs but a good number of publications of women poets were found is this year’s fair, Osman Gani, also one of the members of fair committee, said.
Amena Aftab, a woman writer whose books were published by Banalata Publishers, said her publisher had brought to the fair three new books by women writers this year.
Ja Debe Nebo and Jyotirmoy Somoy O Kshayita Mangshapinda by Amena Aftab and Shiuli Jhara Bhor by Nurhasna Latif have been brought to the fair by Banalata Publishers.
Amena Aftab said they generally publish books by women writers as popular publishers tend to print books by popular writers and ignore women writers.
She said books by women writers caught the eyes of both the male and the female buyers. ‘Especially, a good number of teachers, NGO workers and students are interested to buy books by women writers,’ she added.
Salesmen of Nari Grantha Prabartana and Nandini Prakashani also said they had a good sale this year.
A salesman of Oitijjhya said books by women writers sold well this year.
Shunyata by Jahida Urmi, Khawa Khawir Bangali by Rizia Rahman and Adh Khawa Faler Jibani by Asma Bithi are selling well.
Ninety-four titles hit the fair on the 14th day of the month-long event with collections of poems dominating the list.
The day’s arrivals included 24 collections of poems, 11 collections of children’s book, six collections of stories, 14 novels and six collections of essays.
A total of 1,649 titles hit the Ekushey Book Fair in two weeks. The new arrivals included 353 collections of poems, 327 collections of novels, 192 collections of stories and 124 collections of essays, 57 collections of rhymes, 43 collections of research works, 74 collections of biographies, 39 works on liberation war, 10 plays, 28 science fictions, 31 travelogues, 31 history books, 11 political works, 18 translations, 30 science and two dictionaries.
The Bangla Academy held a seminar on ‘language hero Abul Kashem’ on Sunday.
Hosne Ara Shahed read out the keynote paper. Fazlul Haq Sarker and Saif Uddin Choudhury took part in the discussion. Abul Kashem Fazlul Haq presided over the seminar followed by a cultural programme.

Courtesy of NewAgebd