PM opens Ekushey Book Fair

Bangla Academy literature award handed over

FE Team | Published: February 03, 2020 00:00:44

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated on Sunday the month-long Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2020, a yearly event of booklovers and publishers, reports UNB.
The fair began on the Bangla Academy premises and at its adjoining Suhrawardy Udyan in the city.
This year's book fair has been dedicated to greatest Bengali of all-time and Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the occasion of Mujib Borsho (Mujib Year).
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also distributed the Bangla Academy Sahitya Puroshkar-2019 (Bangla Academy Literature Award) at the opening ceremony.
The award recipients are former home minister Rafiqul Islam (Literature on Liberation War), Makid Haider (Poetry), Wasi Ahmed (Literature), Swarochish Sarkar (Essay/Research), Khairul Alam Sabuj (Translation), Rahim Shah (Children's Literature), Ratan Siddiqui (Drama), Nadira Majumder (Science Fiction), Faruk Moinuddin (Autobiography/Travelogue) and Simon Zakaria (Folklore).
Each winner received a cheque for Tk 0.3 million and a crest.
Sheikh Hasina also unveiled a book titled 'Amar Dekha Noya Chin' written by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, which is the most attractive of 100 new books to be published on Bangabandhu's life and works marking his birth centenary.
The Bangla Academy has started publishing 100 new books in phases in the Mujib Year.
Presided over by Bangla Academy President National Professor Anisuzzaman, the inaugural function was also addressed by State Minister for Cultural Affairs KM Khalid, Cultural Affairs Secretary Dr Md Abu Hena Mostofa Kamal and Bangla Academy Director General poet Habibullah Siraji.
Later, the Prime Minister visited different stalls of the book fair.
The fair will remain open from 3pm to 8:30pm on weekdays, from 11am to 8:30pm at the weekends, and from 8am to 9pm on February 21 -- International Mother Language Day.