Amar Ekushey Boi Mela

Amar Ekushey Boi Mela 2011 opened at the Bangla Academy grounds on Tuesday. The event that started its journey in 1984 has hugely expanded in size, number of publications on display, in terms attracting visitors over the years. The theme of this year's fair is Rabindranath Tagore, to mark the 150th birth anniversary of the poet.
The Prime Minister inaugurated the fair while it was graced by the presence of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. The PM had words of wisdom to say," read more books to know thyself, the country and the world'. Amartya Sen observed that special feature of Bangla language is its capacity to absorb from foreign languages and it's sense of unity through language that will take the Bengalis forward.
The heartening news is, 40 books were sold in just 30 minutes into the opening. It all says about the interest the fair has generated amongst book-lovers. This year 3000 new books will be up for sale from 376 publishers. Number of visitors is on the rise and reading habit is on an upward curve.
It is through Boi Mela that new authors get a window of opportunity for reaching out to larger audience, much as the established authors benefit from building new bridges with the readers.
It has all the potentials of being a melting pot for authors, publishers and readers. In order to maximize benefits from Boi Mela it must be better organized and held in a much larger venue with multiple entry and exit points. A permanent location with state-of-the-art facilities ought to be thought of.
Ekushe Boi Mela is symbolic of our love for Bangla language and literature. It also provides something of a basis to gauge how far we have progressed in developing our language and literature including translation of books from foreign languages into our mother tongue.