Tripura: Book Fair Scheduled for Jan in Agartala; Bangladesh Publishers Not to Participate

AGARTALA: The 43rd Agartala Book Fair will be held from January 2 to 14, 2025, but Bangladeshi publishers or booksellers will not participate in the event, an official said on Friday. Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha will inaugurate the 12-day-long book fair in West Tripura's Badharghat fairground on January 2.

"Till now, no Bangladeshi publishing house or bookseller has submitted an application for setting up stalls at the book fair venue," Director of Information and Cultural Affairs (ICA) Bimbisar Bhattacharjee stated.

President of Tripura Publishers' Guild (TPG), Subabrata Deb, said, "Given the situation in Bangladesh after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, no publication house or bookseller seems to be brave enough to join the book fair at Agartala. We keep in contact with publication houses of Bangladesh, but they are not in a position to join the book fair this time."

Eminent writer Nandita Roy said, "It is natural that Bangladeshi publishers are most unlikely to participate in the Agartala book fair because of their internal problems. Besides, there is also the visa problem. I heard that they are also not going to join the Kolkata book fair. We will miss literary masterpieces of Bangladeshi publishing houses as well as research-based books that have high demand in Tripura. Last year, they had joined the book fair."

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