Sales rise as Ekushey Book Fair enters last week

Compared to the special or national days or weekends, publishers and booksellers at the month-long Amar Ekushey Book Fair saw better turnover on Wednesday as actual readers came in larger numbers.

With the event in its last week, the number of visitors who only wanted to pass some quality time at the fair went down and the number of book-purchasing bibliophiles went up on the day, according to sellers.

The total number of daily visitors appeared to be low on Wednesday, compared to Valentine’s Day, Pahela Falgun or International Mother Language Day, but the stalls and pavilions found more people buying books by their favourite writers and poets.

Booksellers and publishers said the fair was blessed with actual readers who mostly bought creative books. Most of them expressed satisfaction with their sales and hoped to end the fair with a better turnover and a happy mind.

AK Nasir Ahmed Selim, the publisher of Kakoli Prokasani, said, “Today’s turnover was satisfactory compared to the number of visitors. These people actually bought books instead of loitering randomly.”

Mustafa Salim, CEO and Proprietor of Utso Prokashan, echoed his remarks. “There were fewer visitors today but we sold more than any other day. Our sale was satisfactory.”

Md Nurun-Nobi Babu, assistant manager of Bangla Prakash, said, “Most of today’s buyers were after novels and translated books. We hope more such buyers will come in the last few days of the fair.”

Many visitors also expressed happiness after buying the books they wanted in a peaceful environment. They said the fair was very crowded over the past few weeks but now the situation is better for browsing and buying books.

Jashim Uddin, a government official, said he visited the fair on both Valentine's Day and International Mother Language Day. “I could not look for and buy the books I wanted because of the massive crowds.

“There are not that many people at the fair today. I took time to browse from stall to stall in a peaceful environment and bought my favourite books. It was lovely,” he said.