Ekushey Book fair kicks off from March 18
On Monday, the Prime Minister’s Office granted permission to organize the book fair
This year's Amar Ekushey Book Fair is set to start from March 18 instead of February 1, AHM Lokman, secretary of Bangla Academy, confirmed to The Business Standard on Monday.
Bangla Academy authorities planned to arrange a virtual Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2021; due to the Covid-19 situation, cancelling the fair altogether was also under consideration.
The secretary of Bangla Academy told TBS that on Monday, the Prime Minister's Office had granted permission to organize the book fair.
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He also said, "Whether the fair will run the entire month is still uncertain; if Ramadan starts, the fair may be curtailed to 28 or 29 days. We do not want any clashes surrounding the issue."
Bangla Academy informed that the duration of the fair will be declared after discussing the matter with publishers.
According to Bangla Academy, the Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2020 clocked book sales to the tune of Tk72 crore; 4,919 new books were published during the month.
The fair usually starts on the first day of the month, February 1. Traditionally, the prime minister inaugurates the event every year.
Manzur-I-Mawla first conceived of the idea of the Amar Ekushey Book Fair in 1983 when he was the director general of Bangla Academy, but he was unable to implement it. The fair finally took place with much fanfare in 1984.
