Ekushey Book Fair begins Thursday
The Amar Ekushey Book Fair-2021 is scheduled to begin on Thursday at the Bangla Academy premises and the adjacent venue at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital.
It was postponed during its traditional month of February amid the coronavirus pandemic.
This year’s fair will be dedicated to the memories of the martyrs of 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh. The main theme of the 2021 fair is “Birth Centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Golden Jubilee of Independence”.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina will virtually inaugurate the fair from Ganobhaban.
She will unveil the cover of ‘New China 1952’, the official English version of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman written book ‘Amar Dekha Noya Chin’, published by Bangla Academy.
The prime minister will also distribute the Bangla Academy Literary Award 2020 among recipients at the inaugural ceremony.
At a media briefing earlier this week, Bangla Academy director general Habibullah Siraji said that considering the Covid-19 social-distancing requirements, the land earmarked for this year’s fair has been expanded to 15, 00,000 sq ft. A total of 834 units have been allocated to 540 organisations this year.
This year, the ‘Shishu Prohor’ has been called off and the children’s corner has been shifted to Suhrawardy Udyan.
The authorities have allotted 154 units of the Bangla Academy ground to 107 organisations and 680 units of the Suhrawardy Udyan to 433 organisations for the 2021 fair.
There will be 33 pavilions, while the ‘Little Mag Corner’ has been entirely shifted to the Suhrawardy Udyan.
Publishers from all over the country will participate in the fair with a wide variety of books, while Bangla Academy will exhibit 115 newly-printed and reprinted books at this year’s fair.
Hand sanitisation booths will be set at all the entrances for the visitors, who must have to be masked up all the time during their presence at the fair.
Seminars will be held at the main stage of the fair venue at 4:00pm every day from 19 March to 14 April, followed by cultural events.
To prevent the hassle of the fair-goers due to possible inclement weather, there will be four emergency shelters at Suhrawardy Udyan.
The number of volunteers and necessary amenities has been increased this year to ensure adequate support for the booklovers.
Earlier, the 2021 fair had been postponed to avoid the contamination risks of Covid-19, and also there had been talks to hold this year’s fair virtually.
Alongside all the necessary health precautions, there will be strict security arrangements in and around the venue to prevent any unpleasant incidents, according to Krishna Pada Roy, additional police commissioner (crimes and operations) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
‘Chittaranjan Saha Memorial Award’ will be distributed among the best publishers, while ‘Munir Chowdhury Memorial Award will be conferred upon three organizations for publishing the best books in the 2020 fair’, ‘Rokanuzzaman Khan Dadabhai Memorial Award will be awarded to the best children book, and ‘Artist Qayyum Chowdhury Memorial Award’ for showing artistic intelligence at stall building, will be announced at the fair.
The month-long book fair is arranged every year in February commemorating the sacrifices of those who laid down their lives on 21 February 1952 for establishing Bangla as the mother tongue.
The traditional Amar Ekushey Book Fair began informally in 1972 at the Bangla Academy premises; however, the academy officially took the responsibility to arrange the fair regularly, every year since 1978.
It was then named as ‘Amar Ekushey Grantha Mela’ and a guideline was laid out in this regard in 1984.
The fair will remain open from 3:00pm to 9:00pm on weekdays, from 11:00am to 9:00pm on Fridays and Saturdays, from 8:00am to 9:00pm till on April, the organisers said.