Amar Ekushey book fair begins

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Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2010 kicked off Monday on the Bangla Academy premises amid festivity and enthusiasm, reports UNB.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the month-long fair, one of the most clear traditional events, very close to the heart of the people of Bangladesh.
The fair commemorating the supreme sacrifice of Bangalees during the 1952 Language Movement also serves as the meeting ground of the country's eminent novel and short story writers, poets, literary critics, historians, columnists, journalists and readers and cultural activists.
Soon after the inauguration, people in large number thronged the fair venue. Law enforcers searched the visitors and their bags with metal detectors before allowing them to enter the venue through the two entrances.
"The turnout was good on the opening day," Osman Gani, proprietor of Agami, said.
A number of visitors, writers, poets and publishers expressed the hope that this year's book fair would be successful despite the price hike of papers.
Visitors thronged the stalls of the publishing houses that published books by some renowned writers while most of the other stalls attracted a few.
Like previous years, Bangla Academy's English to Bangla dictionary was the best seller at the fair Monday.
On the occasion, Bangla Academy has already published 60 new books and will bring out biographies of language movement martyrs Rafiq, Barkat and Zabbar.