Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau (BEPB) and Bangladesh High Commission in Kolkata, India — in association with Bangladesh Gyan o Srijonshil Prokashak Samiti — recently organised a five-day book fair. The fair was held at Gaganendranath Art Pradarshanshala in Nandan, Kolkata.
Paschim Banga Minister for Education, Bratya Basu, inaugurated the fair. Mustafizur Rahman, Bangladesh Deputy High Commissioner in Kolkata, was also present as a guest. Noted writer Sunil Gangopadhyay; Dr. Pabitra Sarkar, former Vice Chancellor (VC) of Rabindra Bharati University, Paschim Banga; Dilip Sinha, former VC of Visva Bharati University; Indian artist Shuva Prasanna; Tarik Mohammad Ariful Islam, Head of Chancery, Deputy High Commission of Bangladesh in Kolkata; Omar Faruk, commerce secretary of the Bangladesh High Commission, among others, attended and spoke at the programme.
About thirty publishers from Bangladesh took part in the fair. The participating publishing houses are: United Press Limited, Mawla Brothers, Prothoma, Anupam, Kakoli, Pathak Shamabesh, Ananya, Onnesha, Shomoy Prakashan, Anyo Prakash, Muktodhara, Oitijhya, Sandesh etc. This is the first time the Bangladesh government had taken an initiative to organise a book fair in Kolkata — exclusively featuring Bangladeshi publishers.
On the occasion, Academic and Creative Publishers’ Association of Bangladesh organised a seminar, titled “Creative Writings and Bangladesh Liberation War”, at Jawaharlal Nehru Children’s Museum, Kolkata. Noted Bangladeshi writer and social activist Shahriar Kabir and a number of dignitaries from Paschim Banga — Sunil Gangopadhyay, Sunanda Sanyal, Prasun Bhowmick and artist Jogen Chowdhury — took part in the discussion.
The speakers expressed that people of Bangladesh and Paschim Banga have a common cultural heritage. They also spoke highly about the fair.
