Two visitors make their choice of books at a stall of the Ekushey Boimela (book fair) at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital that drew big crowds on Friday. — FE Photo Ekushey Boimela (book fair) drew a large number of visitors on Friday, which helped to increase publishers' volume of sales on the weekly holiday.
Both the number of visitors and the sales volume were much higher comparing to the previous days of the month-long fair, according to the publishers.
They said book-lovers started thronging the fair premises from the morning, since it opened at 11.00 am on the day. The size of the crowd continued to rise throughout the day.
Organised by Bangla Academy, the fair is divided into two areas - the academy territory and the Suhrawardy Udyan.
The visitors reached the fair crossing huge crowd from Doyel Chattar and Shahbag. It took about 30 minutes to reach the fair venue from Shahbag due to the crowd, which usually takes less than 10 minutes. Vehicular movement was disrupted in the fair's adjacent areas.
Book-lovers were seen entering the Suhrawardy Udyan from its southern side standing in a long queue.
When approached, one of visitors named Milton Biswas said he came to Dhaka from Chittagong for a different purpose, but took the holiday as a great opportunity to visit the fair.
"I will buy at least three books to present to my family members as gift," he said, adding that it will encourage his near and dear ones to read books.
However, he said he did not expect to wait in a long array to enter the fair.
Talking to the FE, several visitors expressed their willingness to buy books from the fair according to their interests.
"I came to this fair earlier on several occasions. Now it is time to collect the books according to my choice," said Riaz Ahmed, a visitor.
He also said he was going to buy books on politics and history as well as novel.
When contacted, most of the publishers said their volume of sales was much higher on Friday.
Papia Rahman, a salesperson at Behula Bangla Publications, said they have sold over 90 books till 5.00 pm on the day, which was many times higher than other usual days.
She expected the number to rise until the fair ends for the day.
Meanwhile, many book-lovers expressed dissatisfaction over dust at the fair venue.
The fair remains open from 3.00 pm to 9.00 pm on the working days, and from 11.00 am to 9.00 pm on the holidays.
According to Bangla Academy data, a total of 273 new books were unveiled on Friday. Of which, 91 were poetry books, 40 novels, 37 storey-books, and four research.
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