The Amar Ekushey Book Fair saw a huge crowd and sale on Tuesday as most of the people who went to the Central Shaheed Minar to pay homage to the language martyrs later visited the biggest book fair of the country.
The fair was crowded from the morning after it opened at 8:00am. Visitors of all ages were seen standing in long queues to enter the book fair being held on the Bangla Academy premises and adjoining Suhrawardy Udyan.
Most of the women wore black-coloured sarees while the boys wore black panjabis. Some came to the fair wearing Bengali alphabet-embroidered clothes.
Muhaminul Islam along with his wife and four-year-old boy went to the Central Shaheed Minar from Uttara in the foggy morning. Muhaminul and his family members went to the book fair’s children’s corner after paying tribute to martyrs.
“This is the first time I have placed flowers to Shaheed Minar with my son. I feel very happy. I told my son the story of the Language Movement. Now I will buy books for him and later I and my wife will look for books of our favourite authors,” he said.
Government service holder Sharmin Sultana, her husband and two school going daughters went to the book fair from Jhigatola.
“I haven’t had a chance to come to the book fair due to busy schedule. Today is an office holiday. So I came to the fair with my whole family. We will also go to the Shaheed Minarin the afternoon and pay tribute to the martyrs with rose when the pressure of people will decrease there,” she said.
Publishers were very happy as they could sell large numbers of books on the day because of huge visitors in the fair.
AK Nasir Ahmed Salim, owner of Kakali Prokashoni, said, “There has been a huge gathering of readers since morning. On the occasion of Amar Ekushey, the attendance of readers was more than I had expected. Sales are also getting better.”
He said the volume of books sold till February 20 will be tripled from now on as the book fair has gained a momentum with the observance of Ekushey February.
To make the fair more attractive, the Bangla Academy organised a festival of the self-composed poetry recitation on the main stage from 8:00am. Poet Jahidul Haque presided over the session.
Besides, Amar Ekushey Lecture-2023 was held on the main stage at 4:00pm. Theatre personality Ramendu Majumder presented the keynote paper while Bangla Academy Director General Poet Muhammad Nurul Huda gave the welcome address.
Bangla Academy President and eminent author Selina Hossain presided over the session. After that, poetry recitations and a cultural programme were held on the same stage.
