<i>Boi Mela opens today</i>
New books being shelved in stalls on Bangla Academy ground where the month long Amar Ekushey Boi Mela begins today.Photo: STAR
Amar Ekushey Boi Mela is here again. Within a few hours, the month long event opens on Bangla Academy premises today, unwrapping a box of new gifts to book lovers. The annual get-together of thousands of readers, publishers, and writers is expected to remain as lively as in the previous years. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the book fair, biggest in the country, at 3:00pm. “We are almost ready,†Prof Shamsuzzaman Khan, director general of Bangla Academy, the organiser of the book fair, told a press conference at the academy yesterday. This correspondent saw hundreds of workers busy giving final touches to their stalls at the fair ground. This year Bangla Academy has dedicated the book fair to one of the country's most admired and bestselling authors, Humayun Ahmed, who breathed his last in New York on July 19, 2012. A seminar commemorating the novelist will be held during the fair, said Prof Khan. This year the authorities have decided to strictly limit the book fair to the academy premises. So no stalls were allowed on the street outside. NGOs and cultural organisations did not get stalls either. “The book fair had been a Baroary Mela [a fair of all items]. Last year we decided that the fair would be only for authors and publishers. So we took a tough decision,†said Prof Khan. A total 460 units (space for stalls) have been distributed among 274 organisations. Of these, 418 units went to 236 publishers and 42 others to 28 government and other organisations. The number of stalls was 630 last year. The fair will keep open from 3:00pm to 9:00pm every day and from 11:00am to 9:00pm on holidays. On February 21, International Mother Language Day, it will open at 8:00am and close at 9:00pm. Bangla Academy, which presents 42 new books this year, will sell on a 30 percent discount. The other publishers will offer a 25 percent concession on books. Apart from surveillance cameras, police, Rab, and intelligence agencies will closely watch the ground to ensure security of visitors.
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