Batighar Dhaka, a place usually known as a hub for bookworms, welcomed people with canvases and paint brushes on Friday, as Worthy Publications launched their new line of books: The Mason Jar 2,The Little Sounds of Time and the Worthy Classic Series. Aside from the launching of the books, the event, titled, Book Launching Carnival: Worthy Unboxing, featured an art fest, slam poetry, a quiz competition and a raffle draw.

The event began with the art fest, where artists of different ages competed against each other. Worthy Publications will launch illustrated books based on Arabian Nights, fairy tales and Aesop’s fables, which were the themes of the competition. With the intention of promoting promising artists, Worthy Publications plans to collaborate with the winners of the art fest.       

People recited heartfelt poems on the term, ‘Worthy” at the slam poetry competition. There were poems about gender discrimination, prejudice and daily human struggles, among other things. Tawhidul Islam and Anika Shah, Lecturers of ULAB and Musharrat Hossain, Lecturer of NSU, were the judges of the slam poetry competition.

Photo: Shanto Lawrence Costa

The Mason Jar 2 is the second edition of Worthy Publications’ anthology, The Mason Jar, which came out last year. The book features 50 stories of different genres, including magic realism, historical fiction, contemporary fiction, romance, dystopia, paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, suspense, crime and thriller. On the other hand, The Little Sounds of Time is the debut novel of Syed Rafid Kabir, who completed his O-Level from Scholastica last year.  The Worthy Classic Series is a collection of classic literary tales.

Worthy Publications was founded by sibling duo Kasfia Haque Samara and Nuzaimul Hoq Xishan. “We hope to provide readers good literature at an affordable price,” said Samara. She also mentioned that Worthy Publications recently opened their branch at Bashundhara Residential Area. The siblings will also be working on the solo novels of all the writers from The Mason Jar and The Mason Jar 2 in the future.