Amid much speculations whether the annual Amar Ekushey Book Fair would be held virtually or not due to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, book publishers and sellers on Sunday said that this year’s Ekushey Book Fair will be organized like the previous years.
Leaders of Bangladesh Publishers & Booksellers Association (BAPUS) and Bangladesh Gyan and Srijanshil Samity revealed the development after holding a meeting with the director general of Bangla Academy in Dhaka on Sunday.
“It was well rumored that the fair could be held virtually. So we discussed the issue [in the meeting] and ended up agreeing that it will be organized as usual every year,” said Farid Ahmed, president of Bangladesh Gyan and Srijanshil Samity.
“But there may be changes to the month-long fair. We’ll propose a tentative schedule to Bangla Academy for the fair, and the latter will forward that to the government. The fair will finally be launched any time in February, once cleared by the government,” he said.
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Bangla Academy DG Habibullah Siraji said rumours centring the book fair have been making the rounds since Thursday, leading to a lot of confusion among book-lovers and visitors of the annual event.
“The governing body of the academy in a meeting on December 10 postponed the fair, considering the coronavirus pandemic. The ministry concerned was updated about it,” he informed.
Those attending the December 10 meeting opted for virtually holding the fair—a decision which was conveyed to the Cultural Affairs Ministry, he said, adding: “The next course of action will be taken upon any instructions from the ministry.”
Regarding the meeting with publishers, he said: “I sought two months to organize the fair. Then again, everything will depend on the Covid-19 situation and the consideration of the state apparatus and the people’s healthcare.”
On Saturday, Dr Jalal Ahmed, member secretary of the book fair committee, said the traditional fair, organized every year by the Bangla Academy in February, would be organized virtually to prevent the transmission of coronavirus as the country prepares to tackle a possible second wave of Covid-19.
Many events have been called off or held virtually this year amid the coronavirus pandemic which struck the country in March this year.
Bangladesh reported its first coronavirus cases on March 8 and the first death on March 18.