Booklovers’ rush at book fair on Friday

On its fourth day on Friday, Ekushey Book Fair on the Bangla Academy premises along with Suhrawardy Udyan came to life with the presence of booklovers as the fair managed to draw a huge crowd even amid the Covid concerns.

The crowd, consisting of people of all ages, also brought smiles to the publishers.

Elias Mollah (21) came to the fair from Munshiganj with his three friends and purchased some 15 books. He said he was satisfied with how the books were priced and excited to be able to meet some of his favourite writers.

Bushra Begum (40), who came to the fair from Dhaka Cantonment with her son and daughter, said it is their family tradition to visit the fair every year.

"We have purchased some 20 books and I am quite impressed with the fair this year," she said, expressing hope to visit the fair twice more this year.

Even though almost all stalls had a considerable crowd, Tamralipi Publishing's stall managed to draw a huge crowd of young readers. The readers were hoping to catch a glimpse of Zunayed Evan, writer of Onnomonoshko, and buy signed copies. Evan came to the stall around 3.30pm and was surrounded by his fans, for autographs and selfies.

Highlighting the demand for Evan's book, one of the salespersons of Tamralipi, Kawser Ahmed, said, "We have been selling Onnomonoshko 500 copies a day but today [on Friday], we have sold some 1,000 copies so far. It is unbelievable how popular the book has become."

Jasim Uddin, the publisher of Kathaprakash, said the book fair this year has received a strong response from the readers. "My stall has sold around 1,000 books in the last two days and from the look of it, it is going to reach 2,000 today [Friday] in a few hours," he said, adding that if the fair is extended till 17 March, this year's sales may surpass those of any other year.

Giving an overview of the fair so far, Director General of Bangla Academy Poet Mohammad Nurul Huda said some 177 new books were published on Friday and in just four days, some 236 new books have been released.

Meanwhile, law enforcers have a vigilant presence at the fair to ensure visitors maintain health guidelines. All visitors are provided with hand sanitisers at the main gates of the fair and no one is allowed to enter without a mask.

The fair, taking place at around a seven-lakh square foot area, accommodates as many as 534 publishing houses.

The fair will continue till 28 February unless it gets extended and remain open from 2 pm to 9 pm on weekdays. On weekends and public holidays, the fair will stay open from 11 am and on 21 February, the gates of the fair will open to the visitors from 8 am.