PM to inaugurate Amar Ekushey book fair tomorrow

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is set to inaugurate the Amar Ekushey Book Fair-2024 at 3 pm tomorrow (Thursday). The event will be held under the auspices of Bangla Academy on its premises and Suhrawardy Udyan.
This information was disclosed by Bangla Academy Director-General, poet Mohammad Nurul Huda, during a press conference at Bangla Academy on Tuesday, when he provided an overview of the overall preparation for the Book Fair.
A total of 937 stalls have been allocated to 635 organisations, as informed by Huda during the press conference.
He added that the authorities have assigned 173 stalls to 120 organisations for the Bangla Academy ground and 764 stalls to 515 organisations for the Suhrawardy Udyan.
Furthermore, 37 pavilions have been allocated for this year's event. In the previous year, 901 stalls were allocated to 601 organisations.
Following the inauguration of the Book Fair, the Prime Minister will also launch new books, including 'Collected Works of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: Volume-2,' published by Bangla Academy. Additionally, she will present the Bangla Academy Literary Award 2023.
The book fair will be open to the public from 3 pm to 9 pm on working days and from 11:00 am to 9 pm on public holidays, with a one-hour break for lunch and prayers.
BSS adds: The Prime Minister will also hand over the awards to the winners of Bangla Academy Literary Award-2023 along with unveiling the covers of some books.
The theme of this year's book fair is "Paro Boi, Garo Desh: Bangabandhur Bangladesh (Read Book build country: Bangabandhu's Bangladesh) and the Bangla Academy is organizing the fair.
This year, the entire work of the fair is being done by Bangla Academy alone to avoid any criticism, said Member Secretary of the Amar Ekushey Book Fair Committee Dr KM Muzahidul Islam, adding, "Almost 95 percent of works will be done by tomorrow morning".
"In the previous years, some event management companies were involved in fair arrangements which faced some criticism last year", said Muzahidul.
Along with cultural programmes and month-long seminars, there will be arrangements for children and teenagers which include drawing, music and recitation competitions.
Stall allotment for old and newly enlisted publications was done through a digitalised lottery system on 23 January, said the organisers.
Like previous years, the main stage of the fair will be on the Bangla Academy premises while book unwrapping and 'Lekhak Bolchi' stages will be set up on Suhrawardi Udyan premises, said Mujahidul. 'Shishu Chattar' has also been set up in Sadhu Shanga area beside the Ramna Kali Temple.
For notable contributions to various aspects of Bangla literature, this year, the Bangla Academy Literary Award-2023 will be given in 11 categories- poetry, fiction, essay/research, translation, drama, children's literature category, Liberation War, Bangabandhu, environment/science field, biography and folklore.
The award recipients are: Shamim Azad (poetry), Novelists Nuruddin Jahangir and Salma Bani (jointly in fiction), Zulfikar Matin (essay/research), Saleha Chowdhury (translation), Playwrights Mrittika Chakma and Masud Pathik (jointly in drama), Tapankar Chakrabarty (children's literature), Afroza Parvin and Asaduzzaman Asad (research on the Liberation War), Saifullah Mahmud Dulal and Md Mojibur Rahman (research on Bangabandhu), ornithologist Inam Al Haque (environment/science field), Ishak Khan (biography) and Tapan Bagchi and Suman Kumar Das (jointly in folklore).