Stall owners, publishers and readers expect the fair will see large crowds of readers, writers as well as a collection of new books after February 15.

Rashedul Hassan, a student of Geology Department of Dhaka University (DU), said: "I came only to get information on new book and make any purchases only after the 15th."

Visitors to the fair, although small in number, are checked with metal detectors at the entrance, while some security personnel search bags they carry. Members of the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and police hover around the groups of young people.

Yet the fair remains the only place that attracts all types of readers across the country.

Azizur Rahman visited the fair with his family all the way from Kishoregonj. "I will buy some ghost story books along with fairytales and rhymes," said his son Dipto.

The organising committee, on February 6, started a drive to check if the stall owners were following the rules.

"We want everything to run smoothly and decided that if the stall owners violate the rules, they would be blacklisted. No allocation will be given to any blacklisted stall-owner next year," said Abul Kalam Manjur Morshed, director general of Bangla Academy.

Around 10 stalls that were found violating the rules were severely warned.

Some readers were not satisfied with the books available.

"Most publications were collections of fictions and poetry. I hardly found any book related to environment," said Masuma Akhtar, a student of Soil, Water and Environment Department, DU.

"The announcements of the highest ever discount of 30 percent had no value as the original prices indicated were much higher than the books on sale in the previous fairs," said Kibria Hassan of the same university.

"The reason for higher prices is the price hike of paper. A ream of paper which was Tk 700 now costs Tk 1,200," said Sajjadur Rahman, representative of University Press Limited (UPL).

Farzana Firoz, salesgirl of the stall, Shikor, said: "We are selling books to the value of Tk 6,000 daily, which is quite satisfactory. We expect more visitors on weekly holidays; Fridays and Saturdays."

Jalal Ahmed, Deputy Director of the academy, said that more than 300 stalls were set up at the fair premises.

"We had information of more than 350 new books in the fair. We believe that the numbers are higher as publishers to not want to give out information of new books to the fair information center," he said.

According to several stall owners and publishers the bestseller so far is celebrated author Humayun Ahmed's new novel Lilua Batash.

Among other programmes, recitation and discussion sessions among young writers and poets in the Lekhok Kunja (writer's corner) are one of the main attractions of the fair. Discussion sessions followed by cultural programmes are staged within the academy premises regularly.