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The management committee of Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2026 on Saturday allocated stalls and pavilions for the forthcoming fair scheduled to be inaugurated on Friday amid boycott by ‘Prakashak Oikya’ due to the month of Ramadan.
This year, total 243 publishers are participating in the fair, while more than 300 publishers, including some major publishing houses, under the banner of Prakashak Oikya are boycotting the fair.
All the 243 stalls will be in in Suhrawardy Udyan, opposite of Bangla Academy.
According to the allocation list signed by Bangla Academy director general Mohammad Azam for the participating publishers, 14 houses have been allocated pavilions.
The publishers to whom these pavilions have been allocated include Anyadhara, Oitijjhya, Banglaprakash, Anarjya and Bengal Books.
For the rest of the 229 publishing houses, four types of stalls have been allocated: five publishers have got four-unit stalls; the rest have got three-unit, double-unit and single-unit stalls.
Most of the stalls will be single-unit.
Besides, there will be 35 stalls in the ‘children’s corner’, also in Suhrawardy Udyan: six of them will be three-unit, 14 double-unit and the rest 15 will be single-unit stalls.
Government and non-government organisations are allocated space on the Bangla Academy premises.
While the installation work of the stalls is going on in full swing, Prakashak Oikya’s letter to Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairman Tarique Rahman, who led his party’s win in the 13th parliamentary polls held on February 12, demanding postponement of the fair, created an air of uncertainty.
A Bangla Academy official, speaking on condition of anonymity, while talking to New Age, admitted that they were feeling unsure about the fair until the cultural affairs ministry got a new minister.
‘We don’t know what will happen after the new minister is appointed because the prominent publishers demanded rescheduling of the fair,’ they said.
Earlier on February 14, Prakashak Oikya stated that educational institutions would remain closed during Ramadan and people would stay at home for Iftar in the evening, which would heavily impact the visitor turnout at the peak hours.
Ramadan, the month of fasting for Muslims, is likely to start from February 18 or 19.
This year the committee has rescheduled the Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2026 to occur from February 20 to March 15 due to the 13th parliamentary elections.
