Amar Ekushey book fair opens today
The last-minute preparation continues on the Bangla Academy premises yesterday, day before the inauguration of Ekushey Boi Mela. Photo: Star
The month-long Amar Ekushey Boi Mela 2010 begins today on Bangla Academy premises in the city, commemorating the martyrs of the Language Movement, 1952.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the fair around 3:00pm. She will also open the Language Movement Museum at the academy's Bardhaman Bhaban.
The opening sessions will be telecast live on BTV and Bangladesh Betar.
Bangla Academy Director General Prof Shamsuzzaman Khan said every sort of preparation for the fair was complete.
A total of 505 stalls have been distributed among 356 institutions. As well as the publication houses, several voluntary organisations, government and non-government organisations and media houses will participate in the fair.
"We hope the fair premises will not be clumsy like in the past. We have concentrated on proper distribution of stalls," said Prof Shamsuzzaman Khan.
Speaking at a press conference at the academy, he said they had taken care of space as well as beauty of the book faire venue.
"As the fair is linked to a memorable incident, we have tried to add new dimension to it," he added.
The fair will remain open from 3:00pm to 9:00pm daily without holidays till February 28. On holidays the gate will open at 11:00am and close at 9:00pm.
On February 21, the International Mother Language Day, the fair will open at 8:00am and continue till 10:00pm.
Book lovers will get 25 percent concession on the books published by the publishers and organisations while Bangla Academy will provide 30 percent concession on its own books.
Members of police, Rab and intelligence agencies will be active to ensure tight security on the fair premises.
"Two control rooms and 15 close circuit cameras have been set up to ensure security," Prof Shamsuzzaman said.
Different spots of the premises have been named after Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Dhirendranath Dutta, Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad and Begum Rokeya.
The corners for children and little magazine will be named after poet Sufia Kamal and writer Somen Chanda respectively. There will also be a corner for writers.
A seminar on History of Language Movement 1947-53 will be held daily throughout the month.
On the occasion, Bangla Academy has already published 60 new books and will bring out biographies of language movement martyrs Rafiq, Barkat and Zabbar.
The publisher of the best book published in 2009 will receive the Chittaranjan Saha award.
Information about new books will be displayed on four large screens at the venue. Besides, there will be an information centre and media centre for journalists. The authorities will also arrange Wi-Fi network for providing Internet service to laptop users.
The budget for the fair is around Tk 33 lakh.
A special bulletin titled Protidiner Boimela will be published daily over the month. Information will be available in the websites, including www.banglaacademy.org.bd, www.ekusherboi.com and www.swapnershiri.com.
The fair venue will be a non-smoking and polythene-free zone.
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