Month-long Boi Mela concludes today
(From left) Author Prof Tofail Ahmed, eminent jurist Dr Kamal Hossain, and Agamee Prakashani owner Osman Gani hold copies of the book, “Decentralisation and Local State: Study on the Political Economy of Local Government in Bangladesh”, during its unveiling at Bangla Academy premises yesterday. Photo: STAR
A month-long festival on the Bangla Academy premises for booklovers, authors, and publishers will end with the fall of curtain on Amar Ekushey Boi Mela in the evening today. A day before the fair concludes, hundreds of booklovers thronged the academy premises yesterday. Sellers did not drop the opportunity to boost sale. They remained strict on prices, leaving little for buyers to haggle. This year, a total of 3,560 new books have appeared in the fair so far, said Bangla Academy officials. Last year, the number of new titles was 3,013. As in the previous years, poetry books topped the list of new arrivals followed by novels and essays. “We are much happy this year, as the number of books has increased”, said Osman Gani, owner of Agamee Prakashani. He said the number of visitors had increased as well. “After 40 years of independence, we should not be happy with the number of new books. Rather we should concentrate on qualities", he added. Gani thinks that the fair could have been much more livelier if sales of pirated books were prohibited strictly. “The fair authorities were not much serious in this regard”. A visitor, Abu Taleb, said, “I used to visit the fair two to three days every week throughout the month of February. After tomorrow [today], I will have to wait for one year to get the opportunity again”. Eminent Jurist Dr Kamal Hossain yesterday unveiled the cover of “Decentralisation and Local State: Study on the Political Economy of Local Government in Bangladesh”, a book written by Prof Tofail Ahmed.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments