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In announcing the government’s decision, the director general of the Bangla Academy, Habibullah Siraj, told bdnews24.com on Sunday evening: “The Ministry of Culture has said that in this situation, it is not possible to organize a book fair in physical presence in February. If the situation improves or improves, we will decide when the book fair will take place. “
The Bangladesh Creative and Knowledge Publishers Association, one of the organizers of the Amar Ekushey Book Fair, requested in a meeting on January 5 that the book fair be held in March, although it could not be held in February.
Asked about the publishers’ proposals, he said: “We have postponed the book fair for the time being. The decision will be made after speaking with them considering the situation.”
Last month, the authorities of the Bangladesh Academy asked the Ministry of Culture to suspend the book fair due to the epidemic.
But the Bangladesh Knowledge and Creative Publishers Association objected, saying they want to participate in the Ekushey Book Fair in the same way as every year outdoors.
An official from the Ministry of Culture said that a letter has been exchanged between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Culture. The Ministry of Health had recommended organizing a “virtual” book fair this time. But the editors also had objections.
Habibullah Siraj told bdnews24.com: “We have not decided yet whether we will do it virtually. We will announce the decision on how to hold the discussions and other events soon.”
The Minister of State for Culture, KM Khalid, was called more than once to discuss the matter, but did not respond.
Farid Ahmed, president of the Bangladesh Knowledge and Creative Publishers Association, told bdnews24.com that they did not yet know the final details of the postponement of the book fair in February.
“We said that the book fair should start in mid-February and end in March. Our proposal was also sent to the Ministry of Culture. We don’t know if the book fair will take place now or not. The Bangla Academy did not officially inform the association. “.
However, whenever a book fair is organized, publishers need to be informed in good time, Farid said.
Chittaranjan Saha, the owner of Muktadhara Prakashan, began selling books by spreading sacks at the door of the Bangla Academy on the occasion of Language Day on February 21, 1982. Many more joined him in 1986.
In 1986, the then General Director of the Bangla Academy Ashraf Siddiqui associated the Bangla Academy with this book fair. The following year, the Bangladesh Book Sellers and Publishers Association joined the fair.
In 1973, when Manzoor was the Director General of Maula Bangla Academy, preparations were made to organize a fair called ‘Amar Ekushey Granth Mela’, but it could not be realized. The following year, in 1984, the ‘Ekushey Loving Book Fair’ was started on the premises of the Bangla Academy.
This book fair on the premises of the Bangla Academy during the month of the realization of the right to the mother tongue has now become a fair for Bengali thought.
Although the fair was held on February 1 of each year, the Ekushey Loving Book Fair started a day later, on February 2 of last year, as there were voting in two corporations in the city of Dhaka.
At that time, the coronavirus had started to reach other countries beyond China, but it did not spread to Bangladesh. As a result, the fair ended smoothly at the end of February.
According to the Bangla Academy, 4,919 new books arrived at the fair last year. In total, books worth 2.4 million Tk were sold.
Due to the epidemic, Mujibvarsha’s huge organization had to be downsized last year. Almost all types of festivals have been restricted due to the virus.
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Bangla Academy wants proposals from publishers on when and how to hold the book fair
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