The month-long Ekushey Book Fair-2024 ended yesterday with record sales of books worth about Tk60 crore, according to data provided by the participating publications.
Books worth Tk47 crore were sold at the last Ekushey Book Fair in 2023, and Tk52.50 crore in 2022.
Bangla Academy sold books worth Tk1.36 crore in this book fair.
Despite the remarkable surge in sales, the number of newly published books remains steady.
According to Bangla Academy's latest report as of Friday, 3,751 new books have been published this year.
Some 3,730 books were published last year.
In the fair, out of the total 3,751 books, there were 1,262 poetry books, 106 rhymes books, 76 researches, 69 Liberation war-related books, 64 history books, 71 children’s novels, 64 travel books, 61 translations, 44 science books, 36 science fictions, 29 compositions, 33 books of religious category, 31 of comics category, 34 of dramas, 27 about Bangabandhu, 29 books on politics, 29 books on health, and 19 dictionaries related books were released in this fair so far along with 222 books on other categories.
Bangla Academy notes a decrease in the number of newly registered books unveiled, with 600 books introduced this year compared to 650 in the previous year.
The academy acknowledges that some book unveilings might not be accounted for in their statistics.
A total of 635 organizations were allocated 937 stalls at Bangla Academy and Suhrawardy Udyan.
Notably, 37 organizations, including Bangla Academy, secured stalls at both ends, while 71 organizations were assigned 111 units of stalls specifically for children.
The closing ceremony of Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2024 featured a prize-giving ceremony titled "Gunijon Smriti Purasker."
"Kothaprakash" received the “Chittaranjan Saha Memorial Award 2024” for publishing the highest number of quality books in 2023.
Besides, Prothoma Prokasona, JourneymanBooks and Oitijjho Publication were given "Munir Chowdhury Smriti Purasker" for publishing best books in terms of art and quality.
Moyurpankhi Publication was awarded with "Rokonuzzaman Khan Dadabhai Smriti Purasker" for publishing the highest number of quality books for kids while Annyaprokash Prokasani, Nymphea Publication and Bengal Books Prokasani received "Qayyum Chowdhury Smriti Award" for best interior designs which were aesthetically rich among the participating publishing houses.
According to the data obtained from the archway set up in the fairground, the number of visitors was 5.9 million this year in the last 30 days till March 1.
Director General of the Bangla Academy Mohammad Nurul Huda addressed the concluding ceremony.
KM Mujahidul Islam, member secretary of Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2024 presented the report at the event.
Kamal Abdul Nasser Chowdhury, the prime minister's advisor on education and culture attended the closing ceremony as the chief guest.
Besides, Secretary of the Ministry of Culture Khalil Ahmed was present there as a special guest.
The president of Bangla Academy, novelist Selina Hossain, presided over the meeting.
The month-long Amar Ekushey Book Fair ended on Saturday.
Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had extended the time of the book fair by two days.
The publishers informed that due to Covid-19, severe traffic congestion and economic inflation, there have been fewer visitors to the book fair in the past few years.
However, the number of visitors increased this year because of the metro rail.
