The month-long gathering of booklovers, publishers and writers — Ekushey Book Fair ended on Saturday (Mar 2) recording huge sales.
It was originally scheduled to end on Thursday (Feb 2), but the government extended it by two days.
Altogether, 4,834 books were published in the fair. Of them, 1,608 books were on poetry, 698 novels, 757 short-stories and 272 essays.
Bangla Academy, the organizer of the fair, exhibited 102 newly printed and reprinted books this year.
Last month, publishers sold books worth around Tk 780 million – nearly Tk 75 million higher than the previous year. Bangla Academy also had a brisk Tk 21 million sale till February 28.
Daily discussion events were held on the main stage on the academy premises. Poet Jasimuddin Literature Award 2019 was awarded to poet Nirmalendu Goon.
At the closing ceremony on Feb 28, Bangla Academy handed over awards to winners of its ‘Gunijon Sahitya Puroskar’ chosen from among the publishing houses that participated in the fair.
‘Kothaprokash’ received the ‘Chittaranjan Saha Smriti Puroskar 2019’, while ‘Munier Chowdhury Smriti Puraskar 2019’ was given for the publication of aesthetically rich and standard content in books published in 2018.
The award was received by Prothoma publication for ‘Bidrohi Ronoklanto’ by Golam Murshid, Journey Books publication for ‘Monorothe Shilper Pathe’ by Moinuddin Khaled and Chandrabati Academy for ‘Muthor Vetor Rod’ by Maruful Islam.
The ‘Rokonuzzaman Khan Dadabhai Smriti Puraskar’ was awarded to Panjaree Publication for publishing excellent books for kids, while ‘Qayyum Chowdhury Smriti Puraskar’ was given to three publications – Maddoma (Single Unit), Batighar (Multi-Unit) and Panjaree Publication (Pavilion) for best interior design which is aesthetically rich.
Like the previous years, the venue of the fair was extended to nearby Suhrawardy Udyan with huge changes, reports UNB.
This year, the land earmarked for the fair was expanded to 550,000 square feet 37,000 more than the previous year. A total of 770 units were allocated to 499 organisations.
The authorities allotted a total of 150 units at the Bangla Academy ground to 104 organisations and 620 at the Suhrawardy Udyan to 395 organisations.
Besides, 24 pavilions have been allocated for 24 publishing houses, including Bangla Academy.