Book Fair: An Affair to Remember
"The Book (Le Livre)" was an ambitious project of the 19th century French poet Stephane Mallarme. He thought of an extremely flexible structure for his "ideal book" that would both contain and reveal "all existing relations between everything." Simply put, he intended his book to be the sum of all other books and experiences. Hence, his project included the details of printing and production, presented as a spectacle. I think the same can be said of a book fair—particularly of Amar Ekushey Boi Mela.
A book fair is a happy meeting ground for writers, readers and book lovers, where they all come together to celebrate the written and published words. It offers a wonderful opportunity to discover new writers while acknowledging the old. The new experimental writers poke daringly like wild orchids through the foliage of the tree trunk of writers who define the orchard of classics. But what distinguishes Ekushey book fair from other international or regional book fairs is its sentimental attachments, its cultural heritage.
For the Bengalis, the site of the book fair lends itself to genuine nostalgia. Visiting the fairground after laying floral wreaths at the Central Shaheed Minar on the Ekushey (February 21) morning is a ritual with which I grew up in Dhaka. The feeling of being with a crowd of shared interest was emotionally fulfilling and intellectually satisfying. As visitors, we were keen on listening to the intellectuals sharing their thoughts at the Nazrul Mancha under the famous banyan tree. During the anti-Ershad movement, there were many street performances and distribution of free chapbooks and lampoons that would spice up our jhalmuri or fuchka. The fair was a ground in which you either longed for or tried to avoid meeting familiar faces, depending on your companions. Displaying the books that I bought after an immense survey of the discounts available was a source of guilty pleasure, notwithstanding the scolding that awaited me from my mother, who would be worried about the accommodation of the new purchase.
Starting in 1972, in the last 50 years, the fair has become a habitus of our cultural marker. It had a modest start with the proprietor of Muktodhara publishing house, Chittaranjan Saha, taking the initiative. The Bangla Academy started formally hosting the fair from 1978, and in 1984 it was named after the martyrs of the Language Movement. The inauguration of the fair by the prime minister, and the conferral of Bangla Academy award for literature have added further weights to this event.
In retrospect, it is hard to believe that the new variants of the coronavirus almost dampened this year's celebration. Last year, publishers incurred financial losses due to restricted mobility at the height of the pandemic. Casting all doubts aside, the fair has once again become a successful affair. If Facebook is any indicator, there are many new writers who have had their first publications this year. It would be interesting to have academic research to find out how these pandemic-ridden closures have contributed to creativity and creation of new writers. Relatedly, one can also explore how the "what's on your mind" mode of social media has created a writerly space with a "friendly" audience. Normally, publishers or book/literary editors are the gatekeepers of any culture—they decide who is in and who is not. But on a digital platform, anyone can gauge the interest of their intended audience in their writings. I am not surprised that many of my Facebook friends have compiled their daily compositions to compose their creativity. The endorsements of their "friends" have emboldened them to publish. The hypertext is becoming a text, and eventually shoring up at the fairground. They are the wild orchids who do not need to be rooted in the soil of the old publication houses; they can find their sustenance from the air shared by their virtual readers.
The nature of the festival is, therefore, changing. It is much more democratic and participatory. For a long time, it was dominated by the middle-class civic society in general. To be particular, by the cultural middle class who buy books to read and preserve them at home. This group consisted of the writers, readers and publishers. The dynamics are changing. We have already seen that the holding of the international literary fest in the Bangla Academy premises has introduced a different economic class to the fairground. The nature of the fair management has changed due to the osmosis process that took place between the national and the international events.
One focus of the fair should be in encouraging and enhancing visits by children to the event. Visiting the book fair gives children the opportunity to develop their reading preferences. This year, the fair will end on National Children's Day, the birthday of the father of the nation. Can we not have one day dedicated only to children or those accompanying children during the book fair? Different schools can be asked to arrange field trips on that given day.
At a book fair, we are spared the task of looking into every book shop in the city, or browsing through endless online catalogues to find the book that we do not know that we need or want. However, with the growing popularity of e-books and online portals, there could be a day when physical book fairs lose their current appeal. We might lose the chance of going to a fair to find all the bookstores in one place, and the people behind them.
The fear of losing touch with the physical fairground is not without any suspicion. The publishers wait throughout the year for Ekushey book fair. They hope that their investments will pay off during the month-long event. The survival of the publishers and authors depend largely on this fair. To minimise the investment risks, the fair should be spread all across the country; it should not be Dhaka-centric. A coordination at a national level is required to integrate the fair as part of our annual calendar. More importantly, steps are needed to find the right balance between the virtual and the physical.
Dr Shamsad Mortuza is the pro-vice-chancellor of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB).
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