Ekushey Book Fair
Easel Prokashon has published a unique poster featuring the Martyrs of Ekushey. Usually, posters of Amar Ekushey feature Shaheed Shafiur Rahman, Shaheed Rafiq Uddin Ahmed, Shaheed Abdul Jabbar and Shaheed Abul Barkat. However, for the first time Shaheed Abdus Salam's portrait has also been included. Murad at Easel Prokashon's stall is proud that it could pay rich tributes to the Martyrs by printing the poster.
Some of the books that have been published for the fair are Despots in Short by Alamgir Mohiuddin, Onnodaan by Pabitra Biswas, Ajeebon Boshonto by Nashid Kamal and Kishore Golpo Shomogro by Sarwar Ul Islam. Anyaprokash has so far brought out 17 out of the 50 books targeted for this year's fair.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Most of the publishers agree that the sales are not satisfactory yet, because most people at the fair are just browsing at this moment. The actual sales would begin after February 15, they said.
However, some changes have been made in the setting of the book fair. One conspicuous feature is the enforcement of stringent security precautions. At the entrance itself, members of Rapid Action Battalion and police frisk visitors and see them through metal detectors.
Ruma, a student of Eden College, fumed at her purse being searched. "I feel like a criminal"--she grumbled. However, not everyone detested this change in the tradition of the Ekushey book fair. Chondon Khan, working at the Nowroz Publication stall, felt that after the last year's incident, the tightened safety measures is a welcome change. Faisal Khan, a father of two toddlers, expressed his contentment at the current setting of the fair. "No unpleasant incident has taken place yet and I feel safe to bring my family to the fair," he said.
Jalal Ahmed, deputy director of Bangla Academy, explained that Ekushey Book Fair is a public affair, it has been such ever since he can remember. "The fair has always been the cradle of political activities, civil protests and campaigns against any disagreeable actions and discourse on public issues. So, it is assumable that the public would not be exultant about the current arrangements," he said. What really triggered this change in tradition? Most agreed that last year's unfortunate event of Dr Humayun Azad's being heinously attacked at the book fair has made it necessary for the authorities to intensify the safety measures.