By The Numbers
Reflection on book fair
EKUSHEY book fair, the largest and most keenly awaited annual book fair in the country, is now pulsating with life as thousands of book lover are thronging there everyday. There are 370 stalls in the fair this year, whereas there were 412 last year.
Publishers, who published 60 authentic publications in the fields of creative literature, science and researches, or 15 publications in 2007, were selected to set up stalls in the fair.
Dhaka book fair, the 14th of the kind since 1995, was held at National Parade Ground from December 1 to 16. National Book Centre, the organiser of the Dhaka book fair, invited foreign missions to take part, and three -- Iran, Pakistan and China -- had stalls with books introducing their respective country's culture and heritage.
The bigger book fairs all around the world invite publishers from different countries to come and publicise their upcoming titles, and to sell and purchase subsidiary and translation rights for books from other publishers. But our book fairs are not yet comparable to the book fairs in other countries in any respect.
The Frankfurt book fair, held annually in mid-October on a 164,000 sq meter area in Frankfurt, Germany, is the world's largest trade fair for books. Representatives from book publishing and multimedia companies from all over the world go there in order to negotiate international publishing rights and licensing fees.
The fair is organised by a subsidiary company of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, and is claimed to be the largest in the world. More than 7,500 exhibitors from over 111 countries, and more than 286,000 visitors took part in 2006.
The Frankfurt book fair has a long tradition that spans over more than 500 years. Soon after, Johannes Gutenberg invented printing in movable letters in the town of Mainz (very near to Frankfurt), the first book fair was held by local booksellers.
Until the end of the 17th century, it was the most important book fair in Europe. Frankfurt book fair-2008 will be held from October 15 to 19, and Turkey will be the Guest of Honour.
The Turin International Book Fair is Italy's largest book fair, held annually in mid-May in Turin, Italy. Founded in 1988 as a book showroom, it is claimed to be one of the largest book fairs in the world, involving more than 1,200 exhibitors and 300,000 visitors.
The London book fair is held annually, usually in March, in London. While not as large as the immense Frankfurt book fair, it has grown in size and importance in recent years. Over 23,000 publishers, booksellers, literary agents and media persons from more than 100 countries attend the fair last year.
The Tokyo International Book Fair (TIBF) opens the door to the world's 2nd largest book market in Japan. As Asia's leading book fair, TIBF is an exciting opportunity for tapping the colossal Japanese market, and is the best opportunity for the book traders to meet the publishing industry professionals to expand their business throughout Asia.
TIBF welcomed 749 exhibitors from 29 countries and attracted 55,943 registered visitors from Japan and around the world in 2007. TIBF-2008 will be held from July 10 to 13.
The Miami Book Fair International is a premier event of the Florida Centre for Literary Arts in USA. Every year in November, the downtown of Miami becomes the centre of the literary world, when the book fair welcomes hundreds of thousands of book lovers who attend readings and discussions featuring prize-winning, best-selling, and emerging authors from the US and around the world.
Founded in 1983 by the Miami Dade College and community partners, this book fair has been recognised as the nation's finest literary event of its kind. The Miami Book Fair International-2008 will be held from November 9 to 16.
Starting on a small scale in 1976, the Kolkata book fair is now the world's largest non-trade book fair. It is also claimed to be the world's third largest annual conglomeration of books after the Frankfurt and the London fairs. The 33rd Kolkata book, which was scheduled to be held from January 29 to February 10, was banned by the High Court from being held at Park Circus maidan on environmental grounds.
The annual Hong Kong book fair is organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, selling and exhibiting books, printed matter, compact discs and other multimedia publishing. The fair is intended to promote the international book trade in several different languages.
Our glorious Martyrs' Day, February 21, has now got the status of International Mother Language Day, and around 118 countries across the world are expected to observe the day with due solemnity. The declaration of our Martyrs' Day as the International Mother Language Day by Unesco has not only glorified us, but has also enjoined on us the responsibility for equipping people with the necessary linguistic and intellectual strength to tackle the outside world.
The most important aspect of Ekushey is the book fair in the Bangla Academy premises. While books have been a passion of mine, to be really honest, I did not quite enjoy the fair, having visited it twice in the last week after waiting in the long queue for security checks. I am, like many others, eager to see a higher level of intellectual enrichment in the book fair.
Take India for instance. India has seen a boom of writers in English, many of whom have acquired international recognition winning Booker and other literary prizes. The popularity of Indian books increased astoundingly after India was nominated the Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt book fair in 2006.
The distinctive spirit and appeal of the Ekushey book fair needs to transcend the geographical boundaries of Bangladesh to match the occasion. Books know no border. The poor standard of our books, that has been witnessed over the years, calls for internationalisation of the book fair, shaping it to fit a nationalistic and yet cosmopolitan Bangali psyche. The concerned authority should consider it seriously.
The country indeed needs a knowledge-based society to acquire science and technology for facing the new global challenges. But such an endeavour is sadly absent in the publication of books. The publication of books on a wide range of subjects is quite inadequate.
The Ekushey book fair, so far as its elevation in academic and research areas is concerned, cannot be advanced by emotional exuberance.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments