Book fair preparation in full swing [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

Book fair preparation in full swing

Local January 27, 2016

Preparation for Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2016 is going on in full swing as publishers are busy overseeing the last minute preparation at publishing houses as well as at fair ground where stalls are being decorated.
Publishers seem to have no time even for breathing as they shuttle between the publishing house and binding house making last minute corrections with just one week left for the annual event to be held at the Bangla Academy premises and Suhrawardy Udyan, the extended venue.
Carpenters are busy preparing makeshift stalls for the fair that would begin on February 1. Hundreds of people are working to make pavilions and stalls of different sizes and colours, using rope, bamboo and colourful cloths.
Publishers hinted that the number of new titles would increase at this year’s book fair, the biggest annual congregation of publishers, book sellers and book enthusiasts.
Academic and Creative Publishers Association of Bangladesh president Osman Gani, also Agamee Prakashani publisher, said that preparation of book fair is in full swing. He said that number of books would increase at this year’s fair as number of readers and writers are on the rise.
Agamee would unveil around 80 titles, higher by at least 10 titles than the titles it brought in the past year, he said.
Publishing house Ananya would unveil around 100 titles, slight high from the past year, said its publisher Monirul Haque.
Prothoma Prakashan officials said that they would publish about 55 books at the fair and the number of titles would be more than that of the past year.
Mowla Brothers would launch around 50 books like the past year, said its owner Ahmed Mahmudul Haque.
Adorn Publication owner Sayed Jakir Hossain said that this year they would publish about 35 books.
Srabon Prakashan and Pathsutro officials said that they would bring 20 and five new titles respectively at this year’s fair.
The past year’s fair saw 3,700 new titles, highest in the past decade.
Workers at publishing and binding houses are toiling night and day to finish printing and binding books. The preparation begins from September-October it reaches its peak in January.
‘Preparation for the fair at the final stage,’ said fair committee member secretary Jalal Ahmed.
The fair committee allotted 650 stalls to about 400 publishing houses and government and non-governmental organisations. Fifteen of the organisations got pavilions.
The deadline for decorating stalls at fair ground expired Tuesday, but decoration of many stalls was yet to be completed and the committee urged all to complete the decoration in a day or two, he said.
The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, is expected to inaugurate the fair at 3:00pm on February 1.
Visitors will be allowed to buy books on commission of 25 per cent from stalls at the fair while Bangla Academy will sell books on commission of 30 per cent.
The authorities are also planning to hold an international poetry festival during the fair.
Holding of the fair on the Bangla Academy premises began informally in 1972, but it became institutionalised in 1978. The fair was named then Amar Ekushey Granthamela and a guideline for the fair was formulated in 1984.