Prime minister lifts the curtain on Amar Ekushey Book Fair

The month-long Amar Ekushey Book Fair is now underway.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the fair on the Bangla Academy premises on Monday.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, she said every year people from every corner of the country and expatriate Bangladeshis stream into the fair as it has gradually turned into a grand reunion of Bengalees.

She relived her memories of the book fair during her student days at Dhaka University.

Hasina regretted not being able to visit the fair and meander around the premises regularly like her student days as she has to be under tight security.

“I’m waiting for the days when I can be free and roam around,” she said.

The prime minister said the book fair provides a scope for cultural exchange between local and foreign writers.

Seminars and cultural functions during the whole month of February create a new buzz, she said.

Hasina stressed on publishing more translations of Bangladeshi works and urged writers and publishers to take Bengalee classics and latest literary works to readers around the world.

She handed the Bangla Academy Literary Award to 11 personalities at the inaugural ceremony.

The prime minister referred to several expatriate Bangladeshis including Rafiqul Islam and Abdus Salam who helped her government in 1999 to have UNESCO recognise Feb 21 as the International Mother Language Day.

She highlighted the role of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the Language Movement.

Hasina recalled the obstructions faced during the establishment of the International Mother Language Institute.

“Many things change with a political changeover. We couldn’t form a government in 2001. BNP-Jamaat (-e-Islami) government stopped work on the project. Later, we constructed the institute building and inaugurated it,” she said.

The prime minister said the institute, where research on different languages is conducted, has secured ‘Category-2’ status from UNESCO.

She highlighted different initiatives undertaken for the development of the Bangla Academy.

[2/1/16, 10:15 PM] Shihabur Rahman: Hasina unveiled the covers of several books published in Braille writing. They include ‘Sabuj Math Periye’, authored by herself.

She thanked the Bangla Academy for publishing the biography of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Braille writing.

After the inauguration, the prime minister went round the fair and visited several pavilions and stalls.

This year’s fair venue -- twice the size of last year’s -- is spread over 478,000 square feet of area on the Bangla Academy premises and on Suhrawardy Udyan.

The fair this year has drawn at least 450 publishers, compared with 351 last year.

Eighty-two organisations have set up stalls on the Bangla Academy premises and 320 in Suhrawardy Udyan.

The Bangla Academy, which has organized the fair, and 14 other organisations have erected pavilions.

Authors will be able to launch new books at two spots -- at the Academy's Nazrul Mancha and at the Udyan, the Academy said.

Both the Academy section and the Suhrawardy Udyan section of the fair have Wi-Fi facilities.

The Academy said their books will be sold at a 30 percent discount price while books of other publishers will be sold 25 percent cheaper than their normal price.

Except for public holidays, the fair will remain open from 3pm to 8pm during the month.

On holidays, the opening hours will be from 11am to 8pm.