C T Online Desk: The Amar Ekushey Book Fair will no longer be held at Suhrawardy Udyan starting in 2025.

The Ministry of Housing and Public Works has officially notified the Bangla Academy about the decision through a formal letter, outlining the changes regarding the book fair location.

The letter said that according to a decision made in a meeting on November 21, 2023, the Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2025 is to be organized at the Bangla Academy premises rather than at Suhrawardy Udyan.

This letter was sent on November 6 by Administration Branch-3 of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works.

It is known that for a decade, the Amar Ekushey Book Fair has been organized both at the Bangla Academy premises and Suhrawardy Udyan.

Most of the stalls are usually allocated at Suhrawardy Udyan.

In 2023 and 2024, the fair was held across more than 1.1 million square feet, covering both the Bangla Academy premises and Suhrawardy Udyan.

However, discussions have been ongoing for several years regarding the use of Suhrawardy Udyan, under the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, for the book fair.

There were also talks for several years about moving the fair from the Bangla Academy premises to Purbachal.

Regarding this, the Director General of Bangla Academy, Mohammad Azam, said: “The Ministry of Housing and Public Works has informed us that the Amar Ekushey Book Fair cannot be held at Suhrawardy Udyan. They have mentioned that the fair should be organized within the Bangla Academy premises. However, we have decided to appeal on behalf of Bangla Academy. We want to hold the fair at Suhrawardy Udyan.”

The letter sent to Bangla Academy on November 6 was signed by Farida Yasmin, deputy secretary of Administration Branch-3 of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, reports Prothom Alo.

When contacted, she said: “I have not received any appeal application from Bangla Academy until the evening.”

In 1972, during the month of the language movement, Chittaranjan Saha, the founder of Muktadhara Publications, started selling books by laying mats in the Bangla Academy courtyard.

Since 1984, Bangla Academy has been organizing the fair regularly under the name Amar Ekushey Granthamela following specific guidelines.

In 2021, the fair was officially renamed Amar Ekushey Book Fair.