Curtain falls on Ekushey Book Fair with record sales

The curtain fell on the month-long Amar Ekushey Book Fair Saturday with a record of sales and new titles despite the nationwide blockade and frequent general strikes.

According to the Bangla Academy, total sales of publishing houses, including the academy, reached Tk 378.5 million till February 27 which was Tk 311 million last year. Of the amount, the academy's lone contribution was Tk 6.0 million.

However, the participating publishers cast doubt about the amount, saying that the figure did not portrait the clear picture of the event.

"It's a clearly distorted sales figure presented by the Bangla Academy authorities," said Osman Gani, President of the Academic and Creative Publishers Association of Bangladesh.

At the end of the fair, he said, the authorities had asked the publishers to provide a rough figure of their sales.

"The authorities sent some people to the publishers to get information about the rough sales figure just at the end of the book fair that misled them," Mr. Gani said, adding that it is not possible for the publishers to provide the exact figure by the end of the month-long fair.

Publishers mainly invest money and put efforts targeting the book fair, but this year's returns are totally unexpected, he added.

"Not only people from remote areas but also city dwellers couldn't visit the book fair because of political turmoil. So, how book sales could reach an expected level," Mr. Gani questioned, adding that it would be a challenge for the publishers to pay back their bank loans.

He also blamed the authorities concerned for their failure to ensure congenial environment for fairgoers. "Not only the security issue, but also other issues like management of the month-long fair wasn't satisfactory."

They formally requested the authorities to set up all the bookshops of publishers, including children's corner, at Suhrawardy Udyan. "A good number of booklovers returned home without visiting the main venue due to either ignorance or tiredness."

Besides, this year a record number of 3,519 new titles hit the book fair until February 27.

Expressing satisfaction over the sales, another publisher urged the authority to strictly implement the fair's policies to restrict the sales of pirated books and stop allotting bookstalls to "so-called" socio-cultural organisations.

Ariful Islam Nayeem, owner of Oitijjo, said pirated books were selling outside the fair venue. Few books were being sold at the event, he said, adding that drives carried out by the organisers were very limited or minimal.

The book fair, however, drew a huge crowd Saturday, the last day of the month-long event.

Some visitors claimed that they saw a small number of quality books at the event.

"Books mostly poetry or low-quality storybook are unveiled during the event," said Mizanur Rahman, a Dhaka University student, adding that there were very few books on education and research.  

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