After 28 years, Bangladesh excluded from Kolkata Book Fair
Bangladesh has been featured in every edition of the book fair since 1996
For the first time in 28 years, Bangladesh was not included as a participating country in the Kolkata International Book Fair schedule released on Friday, reports the Times of India.
The 48th Kolkata International Book Fair, organised by the Publishers and Booksellers Guild, will be held between 28 January and February 9 next year at Salt Lake.
Bangladesh has been featured in every edition of the city book fair since 1996, when the Sheikh Hasina government came to office in Bangladesh.
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In 1999, Hasina herself attended the fair when Bangladesh was the theme country. There was no break in tradition between 2001 and 2008, when Bangladesh was governed for five years by Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party and was then under military rule, until Hasina was back in the PM's chair in 2009.
Publishers and Booksellers Guild President Tridib Chatterjee said they had not yet received any instruction from the Centre on Bangladesh's participation. "Given the current situation, until we get any instruction from the government, we cannot say anything about Bangladesh's participation," he said.
As of now, countries participating in the book fair include the UK, US, France, Italy, Spain, Peru, Argentina and Colombia, with Germany as the theme country for the first time.
