Book Fair

There is a great importance of a book fair in the cultural activities of a nation. Nowadays, book fairs are becoming more and more popular in Bangladesh. These are held in different cities and towns on different occasions of national significance days such as ‘Ekusher Boi Mela’ in the Bangla Academy Campus. Every year a book fair (exhibition) is arranged on the campus. Book fairs are now held in district towns also. In a book fair, some publishers set up stalls.

Book lovers such as the teachers, the students, the poets, the writers, the service holders and, some common people crowd there to make their choice and buy books from the stalls. The stalls are beautifully decorated and lighted in order to draw the attention of the customers. Books of different tastes are displayed in the stalls in an attractive way. The distinguished authors personally remain present in the stalls. Consequently, the readers can have a chance to meet their favourite authors. However, a book fair spreads the message that books are our best friends and companions. In fact, a book fair enriches our outlook and makes our life more meaningful.

In Bangladesh there are two main book fairs per year: the Dhaka Book Fair sponsored and arranged by the National Book Centre and the Ekushe Boi Mela arranged by the Bangla Academi. The former was started from January 1, 1996, and the latter had started long before. Both the book fairs are famous and have attracted the attention of book lovers countrywide. The Dhaka Book Fair, by the way, has been internationally known and will most likely be very popular within only a few years.

The Dhaka Book Fair is, as has already been mentioned, arranged by the National Book Centre. It starts on the first day of January each year and normally lasts for fifteen days. This book fair, unlike the Ekushe Boi Mela, encourages the involvement of book companies or publishers from all over the world. This new feature of this book fair has, undoubtedly, made it more enriched and attractive. While the Ekushe Boi Mela with its long tradition is also very famous for its venue and traditional value.