Dipan Nandy

With the first rays of the morning sun, the nation, after two long years, is set to usher in Pahela Baishakh, the first day of Bangla New Year and the biggest secular festival for Bangladeshis.

Halkhata is a tradition that is almost synonymous with Pahela Baishakh celebrations. It refers to the practice of opening new ledger books for account-keeping on the first day of the Bangla New Year.

It’s that time of the year again, when Dhaka University’s fine arts faculty is surrounded by colours.

“I’ve been living in different places in different houses with my mother since my childhood. We have no land and no house to call our own. We are a family of five, and we need a house. I’ll be forever grateful if the prime minister gives me one.”

Houses under the third phase of the Ashrayan-2 project are being made to be “stronger” and “long lasting”.

Twenty years ago, Mominul Islam lost his house in Chilmari, Kurigram to river erosion. In search of fortune, he migrated from there to Savar’s Shimulia union. Although it was no easy task, he managed to eke out a living working on other people’s land.

The situation in and around the Ramna Kali Mandir and Ma Anandamoyee Ashram near the Dhaka University campus was frightfully unnerving.

It was a bittersweet scene at the Amar Ekushey Boi Mela yesterday.

Literature can leave a lifetime impact in our mind. It helps us understand ourselves and the world around us.

The Amar Ekushey Boi Mela saw the most jubilant crowd on the last weekend of the fair yesterday, with readers trying to make the best use out of the remaining few days of the fair.

With the Covid-19 pandemic engrossing almost every aspect of human lives in the last two years, literature was not excluded from these extraordinary effects as well. Writers were engulfed with new connotations and realisations, and that’s what influenced their works immensely, be it fiction or non-fiction.

Born in Khulna’s Khalishpur in 1988, Shobha, earlier known as Shubho, began feeling out of place during her adolescence.

After the entrance of the fair was opened at 11:00am for “Shishu Prohor” (Children’s Hour) on the second last Friday of this year’s Amar Ekushey Boi Mela, the fair saw an increasing number of sales -- continuing till the closure at 9:00pm. The fair ground was flooded with a sea of book-lovers, none of whom seemed to return empty handed.

Twelve-year-old Namira has never seen light in her entire life. Nor has she seen colours, alphabets or the faces of her loved ones. However, her

A tour of the ongoing Amar Ekushey Boi Mela held across Bangla Academy and Suhrawardy Udyan premises is a sight to behold. Along the ornately designed stalls and pavilions of the fair, the fair has more than 50 biographies on offer, according to the academy.

With so many books and stalls to peruse over, attracting visitors is imperative for publications. For that reason, big publications have come up with distinct ways to entice readers.

The duration of this year’s Amar Ekushey Boi Mela has been extended by another 17 days, as per the directives of the state minister for culture. Instead of today, the fair will now end on March 17, bringing the total duration of its run-time to 31 days -- the longest in the history.

The first 12 days of the fair have seen the publication of 1,361 new books till yesterday. As always, poetry books are at the forefront. As of yesterday, 394 poetry books have been published in the fair.

As per tradition, “Shishu Prahor” was set to be held on the first Friday of Amar Ekushey Boi Mela. But due to the pandemic, it was held yesterday instead, on the 10th day of the fair. The fair ground was packed with children of all ages, who visited with their parents.

For the last three years, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman has been given special prominence at Amar Ekushey Boi Mela. With his birth centenary and the golden jubilee of Bangladesh’s independence being celebrated across the country, a fraction of those sentiments have reached this year’s book fair too.