This year's book fair much larger

Book sellers are hopeful of seeing bigger crowds and better sales as the month long book fair Amar Ekushey Granthamela opened on larger premises this year, facilitating public movement.

Though the fair has been organised at both Bangla Academy and Suhrawardy Udyan since 2014, this year a larger portion of the Udyan is being used for setting up stalls.

A visitor, Shamima Chowdhury, who came along with her sister and brother, said, "I thank the authority for giving a larger space for the fair." It will help them deal with crowds, she added.

Around 402 organisations are taking part in the fair. Of those, 80 have their stalls on the Bangla Academy premises and the rest at Suhrawardy Udyan.

Last year 351 organisations participated.

Soon after the inauguration, a good number of visitors thronged the fair grounds yesterday.

Brick soling was done on the fair grounds to facilitate public movement, while reasonable distances have been kept between the stalls.

Mithun Devnath, manager of Shikha Prokashoni, said they were expecting a huge number of visitors because of the larger venue.

Publishers and sellers are hopeful that they would be able to make more profit for political stability.

"Last year, we could not make good profit because of hartal and instability. This year the situation is amicable," said Salauddin, supervisor of Laboni Stall.

Besides book stalls, information centres and a police control room have been set up at the venue.

Seminars on culture, literature and politics will be held every day till February 29, in which eminent litterateurs and academics will participate.   

Like previous years, all books except Bangla Academy's will be sold at a 25 percent discount while people would enjoy a 30 percent price waiver on Bangla Academy's books.

The fair will remain open for all from 3:00pm to 8:00pm every day. However, on holidays, it will be open from 11:00am to 8:00pm.

On International Mother Language Day, February 21, the fair will open at 8:00am and close at 8:00pm.