The month-long Amar Ekushey Book Fair will begin today (Thursday) on the Bangla Academy premises and adjoining Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital, reports UNB.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the book fair on the Bangla Academy premises at 3:00 pm on the day.
Poet Agnes Meadows (UK), Cameroonian poet Dr Joyce Ashuntantang, Ibrahim El Masry (Egypt) and Orne Johnson (Sweden) will be present at the inaugural ceremony as distinguished foreign guests.
Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor will attend the opening ceremony as the special guest while the Bangla Academy Director General Shamsuzzaman will deliver the welcome speech with its President Emeritus Professor Anisuzzaman in the chair.
At a press conference at the Bangla Academy on Tuesday, its DG said the fair would be more beautiful and aesthetically rich this time than the previous years.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will distribute the Bangla Academy Shahitya Puraskar while Bangla Academy will present two books titled 'Alokchitre Bangla Academir Ithihash' and Banghabandhur Sath e Marcher Bhashon: Bohumtrik Bishleshon' to the prime minister at the opening ceremony.
Twelve personalities have been chosen for the Bangla Academy award for 2017.
The recipients are - Mohammad Sadik and Maruful Islam (poetry), Mamun Hossain (fiction), Prof Mahbubul Haque (essay), Prof Rafiqullah Khan (research), Aminur Rahman Bhuiyan (translation), Kamrul Hasan Bhuiyan and Surma Jahid (literature on Liberation War), Shakur Majid (biography and travelogue), Maloy Bhoumik (drama), Moshtak Ahmed (science, technology and environment) and Jhrana Dash Purokhayshto (juvenile literature).
There will be a seminar at the main stage of the fair at4:00 pm every day from February 2 to 28 followed by cultural events.
Like the previous years, the venue of the fair has been extended to nearby Suhrawardy Udyan with some changes.
Meanwhile, the cultural affairs minister visited the fair venue on Wednesday.
The authorities have allotted a total of 719 units - 136 at the Bangla Academy ground to 92 organisatons and 583 at the Suhrawardy Udyan to 363 organisations.
The fair will remain open every day from 3:00 pm to 8:30 pm, except for holidays. It will remain open on holidays from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm and the fair will run from 8:00 am to 9:00 pm on the International Mother Language Day -February 21.