The month-long “Amar Ekushey Grantha Mela 2020, ″ mostly known as ‘Amar Ekushey Boi Mela, is set to begin on February 2. at Bangla Academy premises and Suhrawardy Udyan.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the book fair on February 2 and unveil the cover of the third book of Bangabandhu, authored by himself, titled “Amar Dekha Naya Chin” (The New China as I Saw) at the opening ceremony at 3pm.
A total of 873 units were allocated this year - 179 at the Bangla Academy ground to126 organizations and 694 at the Suhrawardy Udyan to 434 organizations.
Besides, 34 pavilions have been allocated for 33 publishing houses, including Bangla Academy, while last year, 24 pavilions were allocated for 24 publishing houses.
“This year's fair will be bigger than ever before in terms of participation of the publishing houses,” said Dr Jalal Ahmed, member secretary of the fair organising committee at a press conference today in this regards.
Jalal said more than 300 CCTV cameras had already been installed for security purposes.
The theme of the fair is ‘Birth centenary of Bangabandhu’ marking ‘Mujib Borsha’, said the Bangla Academy Director General Habibullah Siraji.
Siraji said 25 discussions will be held on 26 books, written on Bangabandhu’s life and works, in the month long book fair.
There will be strict security arrangements in and around the book fair venue to avert any unpleasant incident during the fair and1500 men of law enforcement agencies will be deployed which was 1000 last year, he added.
Marking the ‘Mujib Borsho’, Bangla Academy has planned to publish 100 books on the life and works of Bangabandhu over the next three years and as part of it, the academy will publish 28 books this year.
“All of our arrangements, publications and exhibitions are centering Bangabandhu and his birth centenary and we will organize seminars and different kinds of competitions highlighting the life and works of the great leader”, Dr Jalal Ahmed, member secretary of the fair organizing committee told BSS.
This year, Amar Ekushey Book Fair wore a new look as the fair venue have been decorated with colourful portraits and historic photographs of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman marking the birth centenary of the great leader.
“As this year’s book fair will be dedicated to Bangabandhu, we have taken some special measures to highlight him. Those will include making five installations on Bangabandhu, organizing seminars on him and publishing a large number of books on his life and works”, Jalal said.
While visiting the place it was seen that two bookstalls have been made in the shape of Bangabandhu’s house of Dhanmondi 32 along with setting five installations on Bangabandhu at different points of the fair area.
Many book publishers have put Bangabandhu’s portraits on their signboards in different styles marking the Mujib Borsho.
Besides, the Bangla Academy as part of its routine work will publish around 200 books, a good number of those on Bangabandhu, during the month-long book fair beginning on February 2 at the academy and the adjoining Suhrawardy Udyan.
Like the previous years, the venue of the fair has been extended to the nearby Suhrawardy Udyan. This year, the land earmarked for the fair has been expanded to 800,000 sq-ft which was 550,000 sq-ft in the previous year.
The fair will remain open from 3pm to 9pm from Sundays to Thursdays; and from 11am to 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays. On February 21, the fair will remain open from 8am to 8pm.
The book fair began informally on the Bangla Academy premises in 1972. In 1978, the academy officially took the responsibility of organising the fair every year.