Book Fair Brought Forward to Avoid Ramadan; Amar Ekushey Book Fair Begins January 7

The month-long Amar Ekushey Book Fair, organised in memory of the language martyrs, is being held earlier this time. The 2027 book fair will begin on January 7 and will run until February 6. These dates were announced on Sunday (October 18) in a press release signed by Bangla Academy Director General Mohammad Azam.

The release said that on October 13 at 10:30 a.m., a views-exchange meeting was held at Bangla Academy's Shaheed Munier Chowdhury auditorium with publishers' representatives regarding the organisation of the Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2027. On the basis of the unanimous decision of the publishers' representatives at that meeting, the dates for next year's book fair were fixed.

The meeting was chaired by Cultural Affairs Minister Nitai Roy Chowdhury. Present at the time were Dr. Jahed Ur Rahman, adviser to the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, and the ministry's secretary Yasmin Begum.

Bangla Academy Deputy Director Shahed Montaz has also confirmed the matter of the book fair's start date.

The major reason behind bringing the date forward is the holy month of Ramadan. Bangla Academy sources said the holy month of Ramadan in 2027 is likely to begin on February 9. For this reason, the publishers had demanded that the dates of the Amar Ekushey Book Fair be brought forward, and it was in response to their demand that the decision to fix the fair's dates was taken.

According to Bangla Academy, the publishers had informed them that as the book fair was held in the holy month of Ramadan last time, book sales were not as expected. To avoid this situation, the publishers had this time initially proposed holding the book fair after Eid-ul-Fitr.

However, Bangla Academy said the dates of the fair were ultimately fixed on the basis of discussions between the two sides. That is, the decision to hold the fair at the start of January came as a middle-ground solution between the publishers' proposal of after Eid and the period before Ramadan — the two considerations.

Meanwhile, a source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the government wanted to organise the book fair from January 14 to February 21. As the book fair is organised centred on Amar Ekushey February, the government had planned to hold a fair lasting about five weeks.

The source said the government's main aim was to ensure that the fair's conclusion, too, revolved around February 21. For this reason, the importance of Amar Ekushey February was taken into consideration in fixing the fair's schedule.

Ultimately, the schedule from January 7 to February 6 was finalised by the unanimous decision of the publishers. As a result, the fair will end before the probable start date of Ramadan, and book lovers will also get a full month-long event.

Now the publishers' and readers' attention is towards the preparations for the fair — stall allocation, the publication of new books, and literature lovers will wait for the fair grounds' familiar crowds on winter January evenings.