The 30th edition of the Amar Ekushey Book Fair came to a close on Friday, amid millions of visitors getting opportunity to browse through some 3000 new titles over the course of one month.
Publishers and also the academy made a hectic business throughout the month this year earning a huge turnover as booklovers swarmed the fairgrounds-inside the academy and extended part at Suhrawardy Udyan-in most of the days despite
a low number of arrivals comparing with the previous year.
This book fair witnessed several times more crowd than the previous years, said fair organizing member-secretary Shahida Khatun but could not hint any figure.
A total of 2,959 new titles hit the fair this year with volumes of poetry with 710 books leading the tally. Also volumes of novels with 502 books clinched the second highest position followed by 392 books on stories and 199 volumes of essays.
Amongst the total number of new arrivals, 114 collections of rhymes, 105 juvenile literatures, 92 memories and biographies, 71 travelogues and jokes each, 57 books on liberation war and 54 researches topped the list.
Only 25 translation works and 14 on politics came to the fair this year.
Last year, 3,070 new books reached the fair while the figure was 3,669 in 2012, 3,013 in 2011 and 3,354 in 2010.
The total combined sales of the participants touched about Tk 16.50 crores this year which was Tk 10.15 crores in 2013 and Tk 26 crores in 2012.
The academy also sold books worth Tk 1.10 crore. Last year, the academy’s turnover was Tk 67.40 lakhs and Tk 82.53 lakhs in 2012, Tk 72.83 lakhs in 2011, Tk 68.01 lakhs in 2010 and Tk 61.60 lakhs in 2009.
On the concluding day, 174 titles arrived at the fair while 14 were unveiled at Nazrul Mancha.
This year, the fair feature 232 publishing houses in Suhrawardy Udyan, 24 houses involved in the publication of children and juvenile literature and 43 others on the academy premises. There is a little magazine corner housing 55 publications inside the academy.
The fair organiser held the concluding ceremony at the main stage in the afternoon.
The Cultural Affairs Minister, Asaduzzaman Noor addressed the programme, chaired by the academy Chairman, Professor Emeritus Anisuzzaman and addressed by the academy director general Shamuzzaman Khan.
Anisuzzaman thanked the visitors, book-lovers, publishers and authors for participating in the fair.
Publishing houses -Mawla Brothers, Prothoma Prokashan and Anwesha Prokashan-this year won the ‘Shaheed Munier Chowdhury Smrity Purushkar’ for the best books.
Also Antardah published from Bengal Foundation and Kafka Samagra from Pathak Samabesh house won the ‘Chittaranjan Saha Purushkar’ this year.
The Minister, academy’ chairman and director general handed crests, certificates and other papers to the award winners.
Meanwhile, people of all ages, mostly youths, were found standing in long queues from the Teachers-Students Centre and Curzon Hall on the Dhaka University campus on Wednesday evening and the stall representatives expressed their satisfaction over turnover.
The month-long book fair is held in every February, commemorating the Historic Language Movement of 1952.
Holding the book fair on the academy premises began informally in 1972, but it became institutionalised in 1978.
The fair was named Amar Ekushey Granthamela and a guideline for it was formulated in 1984.
The Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, inaugurated the fair this year on February 1.
Series of seminars on the noted personalities of the country and also the ongoing different national issues were organised at the main stage in every afternoon.
Unlike the previous years, the fair also held children’s competition for extempore speech, drawing, patriotic songs and recitation on the previous Fridays and awarded the best performers in the morning at the concluding day.
