Stories least told about the book fair

The month-long book fair, Amar Ekushey Boi Mela, is now going on with full momentum. The fair is being held on the premises of Bangla Academy and a part of Suhrawardy Udyan in Dhaka, just opposite to the academy. However there is very little effort to present a comprehensive story about the origin and emergence of the book fair.
In fact, very few people know that the first organised book fair in Bangladesh took place 46 years ago in Narayanganj. It was in the last week of October, 1970, when Sudhijan Pathagar, a local non-government public library, organised the week-long book fair on the premises of Narayanganj Club. The book fair was organised as a part of the literary-cultural week where eminent intellectual Dr Enamul Haque, Dr Ahmed Sharif, Dr Sonjida Khatun and many others joined. The Central Board for Development of Bengali (that merged with Bangla Academy after 1971) and National Book Centre provided support to organise the event at that time.  
Mr Fazle Rabbi, founder secretary of Sudhijan Pathagar, was serving as publication officer of Bangla Academy at that time. He played a critical role on organising the week-long book fair in Narayanganj during 1970 which was a true platform for meeting both the buyers and sellers of books.
Fazle Rabbi, after serving Bangla Academy for around two decades, joined as director of National Book Centre where he served for another two decades till early '90s. He is one of the pioneers of library movement and book promotion in Bangladesh.
Five years earlier, in 1965, a children book fair was organised in Dhaka. National Book Centre, headed by (late) Mr Sarder Joyenuddin, took the initiative. The day-long event took place on the ground floor of the Central Public Library in Dhaka. In fact, Fazle Rabbi in 1962 brought a book, from Paris, titled "Wonderful World of Books" in which he found the term "book fair." He shared the idea with Joyenuddin who spearheaded it.

In 1967, similar kind of day-long book fair was also organised in Jessore by (late) Professor Md Sharif Hossain. It was his single effort and the educationist continued the event for several years. For the first few years, it was day-long event which later turned into week-long book fair and spread to few other places in greater Jessore.
After the independence of Bangladesh, the first book fair in the newly emerged country was organised in December, 1972 on the premises of Bangla Academy with the association of National Book Centre. The then president of Bangladesh, Justice Abu Sayeed Chowdhury, inaugurated the fair. A team of National Book Trust India, headed by Lok Nath Bhattacharya, also joined the week-long event. There was a book stall of the United States (US). But the US was in Pakistan side in 1971 and opposed the freedom struggle of Bangladesh. So people were naturally aggrieved with the country. It was clearly reflected when the stall was set afire one day. But, this was the first book fair in independent Bangladesh which also had few international characteristics. It should be noted that the first book fair in India was also held in 1972 in New Delhi while Kolkata Book Fair started in 1975.  
As a part of commemorating the 21st February Bangla Academy offered its publications to sell at half prices for a week in 1972. During the period, Mr Chittaranjan Saha, spreading a piece of sack-cloth under the mango tree in front of the Academy, displayed and sold few books published by his publication house Muktodhara. Mr Ruhul Amin Nizami, owner of Standard Publishers, also displayed few books in the footpath adjoined to the main gate of the academy. For few consecutive years, Mr Saha continued his effort to display and sell books in such a limited way without any assistance from the academy or the government. A few other publishing houses such as Nauroj Kitabistan, Khan and Brothers and Boighar of Chittagong also joined with Muktodhara which became a kind of book fair. In 1978, Bangla Academy decided to organise the book fair and in 1979, Pustak Prokashok O Bikreta Samiti joined hands to turn the book fair a success. Mr Saha was also the founder of the trade body. In 1983, Kazi Monzure Mawla, the then DG of the academy, took greater initiative to organise 'Amar Ekushey Grontho Mela.' But, due to brutality of Army-Police force of Ershad, which claimed at least 10 lives while students marched in protest in the Dhaka University, the fair couldn't take place. It was, however, held in successive years.
Thus, the origin of the book fair actually lies on the humble initiatives of enlightened and dedicated people of the country.
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