AGARTALA: The 43rd Agartala Book Fair will take place from January 2 to 14, 2025, but Bangladesh publishers and booksellers will not be taking part, an official confirmed.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha is scheduled to inaugurate the 12-day event at the Badharghat fairground in West Tripura on January 2.
Bimbisar Bhattacharjee, Director of Information and Cultural Affairs (ICA), informed that the lottery for stall allocations will be held on Friday.
As of now, no publishing house or bookseller from Bangladesh has submitted any applications to set up stalls at the fair.
However, publishers from Kolkata, Guwahati, and Delhi, along with local publishing houses, will be participating in this year’s fair.
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Subabrata Deb, President of the Tripura Publishers’ Guild (TPG), remarked, “Given the current situation in Bangladesh following the political changes, no publishing house or bookseller appears willing to participate in the Agartala book fair. We have maintained contact with several Bangladeshi publishers, but they are not in a position to join this year. As book enthusiasts, we will miss the essence of Bangladeshi publications.”
This will be the first time in several years that publishers from Bangladesh will not take part in the event.
Deb also praised the state government for moving the fair’s dates up from February-March to January this year.
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“In the past, the Agartala Book Fair was held in February or March, but this year it has been scheduled for early January. We opposed holding the fair during the later months due to board examinations. With the new dates, students will have a better opportunity to visit the fair,” he added.
Eminent writer Nandita Roy noted, “It is understandable that Bangladeshi publishers will likely not attend due to internal issues. There are also visa challenges. I’ve heard they are not attending the Kolkata Book Fair either. We will miss the literary masterpieces and research-based books from Bangladeshi publishing houses, which are in demand in Tripura. Last year, they had participated in the event.”
