The immortal Ekushey Book Fair-2025 will be held at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital, said Adviser to the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Mustafa Sarwar Farooqui.
He said this in response to questions from journalists after a meeting with the Group Theater Federation at the Secretariat on Wednesday (November 13).
Mostafa Sarwar Farooqui said, "We have discussed with the Ministry of Public Works. Our secretary has discussed. The book fair will be held at the same place as before. Three ministries are working on this."
He also said, "From the outside, I thought the Ministry of Cultural Affairs was sleeping. When I came here, I saw that there were a lot of opportunities to do work."
Earlier, on November 6, a letter was given to the Bangla Academy authorities from the Ministry of Housing and Public Works. It was mentioned there that, as per the decision of the meeting held on November 21, 2023, the Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2025 will be organized on the Bangla Academy premises instead of Suhrawardy Udyan.
After submitting this letter to the Bangla Academy authorities, readers and publishers were in a dilemma about the exact location of the next book fair.
Meanwhile, although the book fair was held on the Bangla Academy premises from the beginning, stalls were also allocated in the Suhrawardy Udyan on the opposite side from 2014 to gradually expand its scope. Since then, the book fair has been held in a large-scale arrangement in Suhrawardy Udyan along with the Bangla Academy for the past decade.
Meanwhile, confirming the letter from the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, Bangla Academy Director General Mohammad Azam said, we have not received Suhrawardy Udyan allocation for the Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2025. However, we will try to organize the book fair there. Because, having held a book fair there for the past decade has created a public desire in everyone's mind.