A Bangladesh pavilion received notable responses from the visitors at the just concluded Kolkata Book Fair.
With its Indo-Saracenic Revival architectural style, the pavilion boasting 42 stalls of rich Bangladeshi books drew attention of Kolkata book lovers throughout the fair duration - from January 30 to February 11at Salt Lake City in Kolkata.
This year, the Bangladesh pavilion was designed replicating one of the country’s historic sites - Ahsan Manzil, one time official residential palace and the seat of the Dhaka Nawab situated on the bank of Buriganga at old part of Dhaka.
Of the 42 stalls, eight were of government organisations while 34 others showcased books published by private publishers.
Anup Datta, owner of Mowla Brothers’ stall, told UNB that, the pavilion got huge response from the visitors from the very first day.
Almost 40 percent books were sold in the first two days of the fair, he claimed adding that the popularity of Bangladeshi writers especially Humayun Ahmed is commendable.
Ranju Prasad Mondol, a visitor of the fair from Kalyani said that, the pavilion is a great opportunity for those who want to buy original copies from the Bangladeshi publishers all in one place.
Bangladeshi books are in good demand among the readers here, said Md Saifuddin from the Bangla Academy stall.
People visited the pavilion with much enthusiasm and bought books of their choices, he said adding that Bangladesh is participating in this book fair for over past two decades.
Every year, the pavilion is gaining more responses from the visitors, he said.
Ahnaf Tahmid Ratul from Dhaka, who visited the fair during his visit to Kolkata, told UNB that, it’s a good experience to explore such a huge pavilion of own country in the ground of such a large international book fair.
“Undoubtedly Amar Ekushey Boi Mela is the biggest event for every Bangladeshi book lovers, yet those who are visiting Kolkata can also pay a visit to this international book fair and find books from countries all over the world including Russia, Spain, Australia, France, USA and many more and of course from Bangladesh”, Ratul said when the Kolkata Book Fair was still in progress.
According to the organizers, the increased participation of Bangladesh in Kolkata Book Fair 2018 is a part of strengthening diplomatic relations between the two neighbouring countries.
In the Kolkata Book Fair, January 3 was observed as Bangladesh Day with the arrangement of a seminar on Liberation War.
This year, the International Kolkata Book Fair, dubbed as the world’s largest book fair, was organized with focal country theme- France, the centre of culture of Europe.
This year on the occasion of the 70th year of the Indo-France diplomatic relationship, the cultural wing of the French Embassy organized the Bonjour India Festival in selected cities of India.