On the occasion of World Book Day 2021, The University Press Limited (UPL) have initiated a literary criticism competition to be held from April 23 to May 31, the first part of which is set to conclude at 12 PM on May 7. The competition will be conducted virtually through Facebook, with every participant receiving an additional 5 percent discount on top of the ongoing discount on any order placed through the UPL page on the social media website. In addition, five contestants will be awarded UPL coupons at the end of the competition.

The rules are simple: participants are to choose any book published under the UPL imprint. They are then instructed to either pen a review of 400-1,000 words, or record a video discussion of 3-5 minutes. The reviews—which can be inboxed to the UPL page or posted publicly with the event's hashtags—can be in Bangla or in English. Contestants will be able to discuss one book per week.

The sight of a bilingual literary-criticism contest is a rare one, and with this UPL aims to encourage and facilitate a culture of reading books in the country. Every weekend for the duration of this contest, names of the critics-participants will be published on the UPL Facebook page. For more information, visit the event's page on Facebook.com.

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