Amar Ekushe Book Fair

Amar Ekushey Granth Mela, widely known as Ekushey Book Fair, is one of the traditional fairs of independent Bangladesh. Every year throughout the month of February this fair is held in and around the Burdwan House premises of Bangla Academy. Since 2014, the Amar Ekushe Granth Mela has been expanded to Suhrawardy Udyan opposite Bangla Academy. However, a part of the fair is also organized in Bangla Academy premises.

Nomenclature :

This book fair organized in this month is named 'Amar Ekushey Granth Mela' to keep the memory of the heroic event of self-sacrifice for Bengali language on 21st February 1952 AD.

HISTORY :

The history of this fair is as old as independent Bangladesh. As far as is known, on February 8, 1972, Chittaranjan Saha inaugurated the book fair by arranging 32 books brought from Calcutta on a piece of chatter in the premises of Burdwan House adjacent to Dhaka University. These 32 books were published by Chittaranjan Saha's Swadatin Bangla Sahitya Parishad (now Muktdhara Publishing House). These books were the first contribution to the publishing industry of independent Bangladesh. From 1972 to 1976 he ran the book fair alone. Be inspired by others in 1976. In 1978, the then Director General of Bangla Academy Ashraf Siddiqui directly associated Bangla Academy with the fair. In 1979, the Bangladesh Booksellers and Publishers Association joined the fair; This organization was also founded by Chittaranjan Saha. In 1983, Kazi Manjur Mawla as the Director General of Bangla Academy organized the first "Amar Ekushey Granth Mela" in Bangla Academy. But two students were killed when a truck pulled over the students protesting in front of the educational building against the dictatorial Ershad government. After that tragic incident, it was not possible to hold the book fair that year. In 1984, the present day Amar Ekushe Granth Mela was started in Sambar. That small fair of 32 books has become the most famous Bengali book fair chronologically. Since 2014, the book fair has been expanded to Suhrawardy Udyan due to lack of space in the Bangla Academy premises This year, out of 299 participating publishers, 232 were allotted stalls at Suhrawardy Udyan, compared to 240 in 2002 and a maximum of 425 in 2012.

Details :

Several years ago, the Book Fair was held regularly from the first day of February to the 21st of February every year. After that, due to the requests of buyers, visitors and sellers, this fair was held at Bangla Academy premises till the last day of February. As the leap year comes in February every four years, sometimes this fair ends on the 28th, sometimes on the 29th. The Ministry of Cultural Affairs of the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh performs all the responsibilities of regulating the fair. Stalls of publications are divided into publisher area, publisher-seller area, children's corner, government-private institutions and little magazines etc. Apart from this, language martyrs Salam, Rafiq, Jabbar, Barkat, Shafiur and Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah, Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad etc. Apart from all the famous publishers and book sellers of the country, various publishing houses from outside the country like India, Russia, Japan etc. participated with their books and publications in this fair. In this fair, many government institutions of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, such as: Bangladesh Tourism Corporation, Bangladesh Directorate of Archeology etc. participate in the fair with their stalls. Besides, various private service organizations also participate. Recently various digital publications such as CDs, DVDs etc have also taken place in the fair. Apart from this, various mobile phone service providers are also present with their service details. Little Magazine also took place in the fair with great popularity. The fair's media center has internet and fax facilities. There is also a writer's corner and an information center. The fair premises are polythene and non-smoking. There is a discount of up to 20-25 percent on book sales at the fair. Besides, a special task force has been kept in the fair for educational environment and information security, who identify whether the books have violated the copyright or intellectual property laws and take appropriate action.

There are separate entry times for entering the fair on holidays and other days except public holidays. No entry fee is charged for entering the fair.

Events:

Every day during the fair, various discussion meetings, poetry reading sessions are held in the fair; Every evening there is a cultural program. Besides, the fair has Writers' Corner, where writers are present and interact with readers and visitors about their books. Apart from this, the name of the newly opened books, the name of the author and the publisher are announced from the information center of the fair and the overall list of published books is recorded daily. Besides, various radio and television channels are the media sponsors of the fair and inform the audience about the immediate news of the fair. Also, various blood collection organizations set up stalls near the entrance of the fair to collect blood on a voluntary basis.

Since 2010, a medal has been introduced in the name of Mr. Chittaranjan Sahar, the promoter of this fair. The award is presented to the publisher for the best book judged on the quality of the book published in the previous year.The award is officially named 'Chittaranjan Saha Smriti Award'. Besides, 'Sardar Zainuddin Memorial Award' was given for stall and decoration. The 'Palan Sarkar Award' is given to the best buyer for purchasing the most books.

Selling and Publishing :

In 2023, books worth around Tk 47 crore were sold at the fair. This year, 3 thousand 730 new books have arrived at the book fair.

In 2022, about 52 crore 50 lakh books were sold in the fair. 3,416 new books were published at the fair.

In 2021, books worth Tk 3 crore 11 lakh were sold at the fair. Due to the epidemic, the sales decreased.

Books worth Tk 82 crore were sold at the fair in 2020.

In 2019, books worth Tk 80 crore were sold at the fair.

In 2018, books worth Tk 70 crore 50 lakh were sold at the fair. 4,591 new books were published.

In 2017, books worth Tk 654 million were sold. 3 thousand 666 new books were published.

40 crores and 50 lakhs in 2016

21 crore 95 lakhs in 2015

16 and a half crore in 2014

10 crores and 14 lakhs in 2013