The Amar Ekushey Grantha Mela witnessed scores of visitors and sales on Wednesday as most of the people visited the book fair in the morning after paying homage to the language martyrs at the Central Shaheed Minar.
Since it opened at 8am, the fair was crowded. Visitors of all ages were seen standing in long queues to enter the book fair venue on the Bangla Academy and Suhrawardy Udyan premises.
Initially, the rush was due to the presence of the Shaheed Minar crowd while the number of visitors increased in the afternoon as many thronged the fairground on the government holiday.
Males and females of different ages explored the fair wearing black panjabis and sarees embroidered with Bangla alphabets.

Muhaminul Islam along with his wife and four-year-old daughter went to the Central Shaheed Minar from Uttara in the foggy morning. He and his family members visited the book fair’s children’s corner after paying tribute to martyrs.

“This is the first time I have placed flowers at Shaheed Minar with my daughter and wife as Metro Rail has made everything easier. I feel really happy. I shared the story of the Language Movement with my daughter. Now I will buy books for her and later I and my wife will look for books written by our favourite authors,” he said.
Government employee Hafsa Karim, her husband and two school-going sons went to the book fair from Jhigatola.

“I have not had a chance to come to the book fair due to my busy schedule. Today is a holiday. So I have come to the fair with my whole family. We will also go to the Shaheed Minar in the afternoon and pay tribute to the martyrs when the pressure of people will decrease there,” she said.
She said she bought books written by Shahaduzzaman, Imtiaz Mahmud and Afsana Begum for her and books by Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, Rakib Hasan, Ali Imam and Lutfor Rahman Riton for her sons.
Publishers were very happy as they could sell a large number of books on the day.
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 expected. Sales are also getting better.”

He said the volume of books sold till 20 February will be doubled from now on as the book fair has gained momentum with the observance of Ekushey February.
To make the fair more attractive, the Bangla Academy organised a festival of self-composed poetry recitation on the main stage from 8am. Poet Shamim Azad presided over the session.
Besides, ‘Amar Ekushey Lecture’ 2024 was held at the main stage of the book fair at 4pm with Bangla Academy Secretary (Additional Responsibility) Dr Md Hasan Kabir in the chair.
Eminent author Anwara Syed Haq presented the keynote paper while Bangla Academy Director (Current Duty) Dr Sarker Amin delivered the welcome speech.
Poet Golam Kibria Pinu, children’s writer Wasif E Khoda, fictionist Mas Ud Ahmed and children’s writer Imran Porosh discussed their new books at the Lekhok Bolchi stage.
According to the Bangla Academy, some 234 new books hit the stalls on the twenty-second day of the book fair.
Today, on the twenty-second day of the fair, discussions on “Remembrance: Asad Chowdhury” and “Remembrance: Jahidul Haque” will be held on the main stage of the book fair at 4pm.
Mahmuda Akter and Kamrul Hasan will present the keynote papers while Dilara Hafiz, Baitullah Quaderi, Khaled Hossain and Moni Haider will participate in the discussion to be presided over by Dr Mohammad Samad.