Ekushey Book Fair- A magnet for book lovers

Like every year, the month-long Amar Ekushey Boi Mela 2010 has began on 1st of February at Bangla Academy premises in Dhaka city.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has inaugurated the fair and also opened the Language Movement Museum at the academy's Bardhaman Bhaban.

505 stalls
A total of 505 stalls have been distributed among 356 institutions. Apart from publication houses, several voluntary organisations, government and non-government organisations and media houses are also participating in the fair.

Opening times
The fair remain opens from 3:00pm to 9:00pm daily on weekdays. On weekend the gate opens at 11:00am and close at 9:00pm.
On February 21, the International Mother Language Day, the fair will open at 8:00am and continue till 10:00pm.

Concession on books
Book lovers will get 25 percent concession on the books published by the publishers and organisations while Bangla Academy will provide 30 percent concession on its own books.
Different spots of the premises have been named after Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Dhirendranath Dutta, Abdul Karim Sahitya Bisharad and Begum Rokeya.
The corners for children and little magazine will be named after poet Sufia Kamal and writer Somen Chanda respectively. There will also be a corner for writers.

Seminars
A seminar on History of Language Movement 1947-53 will be held daily throughout the month.
On the occasion, Bangla Academy has already published 60 new books and will bring out biographies of language movement martyrs Rafiq, Barkat and Zabbar.
The publisher of the best book published in 2009 will receive the Chittaranjan Saha award.

Information
Information about new books will be displayed on four large screens at the venue. Besides, there will be an information centre and media centre for journalists. The authorities will also arrange Wi-Fi network for providing Internet service to laptop users.
A special bulletin titled Protidiner Boimela will be published daily over the month. Information will be available in the websites, including www.banglaacademy.org.bd, www.ekusherboi.com and www.swapnershiri.com.
The fair venue will be a non-smoking and polythene-free zone.