The annual Amar Ekushey Book Fair is the main book fair of Bangladesh.
The month-long fair in February is dedicated to the language martyrs of February 21 1952, who sacrificed their lives during a demonstration in Dhaka to establish Bangla as the state language of then East Pakistan.
People of all ages and background visit the fair, which is held at the Bangla Academy and Suhrawardy Udyan premises in the capital.
Our Bangladesh team visited the fair and started the journey at 2:30pm, reaching the destination an hour later.
Our party, which comprised 11 colleagues, took a group photo upon arrival and then split off into two groups to complete specific tasks.
The editorial team proceeded to interview various visitors at the fair as well as book sellers about the best books and best authors. After this there was time for magazine distribution.
One woman said: “ February is the month of celebration and I like to visit the book fair several times which is held throughout the month.” She termed Ekushey Book Fair a congregation of Bangalee Souls. She insisted the younger generation should come to the book fair more.
Another girl commented: “I enjoyed the book fair very much. You should also come to book fair. There is not much time – only a few days left.”
We also spoke with the book sellers of five reputed publishers: Samprotik Prokashoni, Bangla Prokash, Anupam Prokashoni, Somoy Prokashon and Annesha Prokashon.
While they were asked about the best books they told us ‘Bhuter Tutiony’ and ‘Bhuter Rajjo’ are the best books for the kids (written by Ahsan Bashar Kabbo, a 10 year old writer).
Some other books were ‘Brazil’, ‘Train to India’, ‘Boro Hobe Jhilmil’ ( Jhilmil Will Be Grown Up), ‘Half Dozen Adventure’, ‘Ma’, ‘Trish Lokkho Shahid’, ‘Tatima’ and ‘Rupa’ etc.
The best authors were said to be Ahsan Habib, Muhammad Jafar Iqbal, Abdul Gaffar Rony (amongst many others).
After accomplishing our assigned jobs we left the place at 5.30pm.
There was fun for all at the book fair – WhatsOn certainly enjoyed the experience!
> Shiuly Rina
The Amar Ekushey Book Fair
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