Curtain fell on the month-long Amar Ekushey Boi Mela 2016 with a record-breaking sale of books.
This year saw thousands of visitors thronging the fair grounds every day last month. Heightened security measures were put in place to ensure safety for the visitors, especially in light of the attack on blogger-writer Avijit Roy and his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya last year.
The huge turnout daily made publishers nothing short of ecstatic as it also meant a splendid amount of book sales. “All publishing houses have had impressive sales, much better than the previous fair,” said Shahadat Hossain, publisher of Annesha Prakashan.
According to Bangla Academy, the overall sale at this year’s book fair amounted to around Tk40.5 crore, almost double of last year’s sale, which was around Tk21.95 crore.
The last day saw 144 new books published at the fair. With those, the total number of new arrivals in 2016 stands at 3,444 – a few hundreds less than last year’s 3,700.
<2016 bestsellers>
Muhammad Zafar Iqbal’s science fiction “Cranial” topped the bestsellers’ list at Amar Ekushey Boi Mela 2016.
Attendants at the stall of Tamralipi, the publishing house that brought out the book, said they were selling the seventh print of the book yesterday.
“We have been getting really good response from the readers with ‘Cranial.’ It has been a top choice since Day 1,” said Tamralipi publisher AKM Tariqul Islam Roni.
Besides “Cranial,” two other books of Zafar Iqbal that came out at the book fair were bestsellers as well. “Tituni Ebong Tituni,” another science fiction published by Kakoli Prakashani, went into third reprint, and “Sa tey Sentu,” a novella published by Somoy Prakashan, went into second reprint.
Other bestsellers include children’s novella “Idiot Unlimited” written by Sumanto Aslam and published by Kakoli Prakashoni, “Ajo Keu Hatey Abiram,” a poetry book written by Gultekin Khan and published by Tamralipi, and “Masrafee,” a biography of Bangladesh national cricket team captain Masrafee Bin Mortaza, written by Debabrata Mukharjee and distributed by Oitijhya.
Besides, “Bangladesh Flooded by Change, written by Bosse Kramsjo and published by Agamee Prakashani, and “General O Narira,” a novel written by Anisul Hoque, and “Hetey Jai Jonombhor,” a novel written by Selina Hossain, published by Prothoma Prakashan, were also popular among readers.