Agartala book fair: Over 300 poets to recite on weekend

Agartala, Feb 18: A record number of over 300 poets will recite their poems at the Agartala Book Fair on Saturday and Suanday. “The poets are from at least 10 linguistic background who will particiapte at the 35th edition of the fair,” Tripura Rabindra Parishad secretary Kalyan Gupta said. They are from across the state and also some women. Gupta, along with another poet, Bidhan Roy, is coorditing the programme. Besides Bengali, poems in different tribal languages are also in the list.

The Tripura government’s Information and Cultural Affairs (ICA) Department has been organising the book fair since 1981. ICA official Debashish Lodh said that the government has been providing transportation allowance to the participating poets from faraway places. Publishers and book sellers from New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Guwahati, besides Tripura have set up 121 stalls at the fair. For the first time no publishers and book sellers from Bangladesh were seen taking part. A record number of books — about 400 titles are expected to be published. (IANS)