A large number of visitors thronged the Amar Ekushey Book Fair on Tuesday, but sales were very low while the number of new titles increased, said the publishers.

On the day, as the Dol Purnima was celebrated across the country, a large number of visitors explored the fair after the Holi, a Hindu religious festival of colours, at Ramna Kali Mandir beside the fairground.

Agamee Prakashani sales executive Amirul Islam said that although visitors increased compared to other working days, the sales rate remained low.

Chaiba M. Marma, a salesperson at Swapana 71 Prakashan, said that many visitors took photographs and videos of the books but were not interested in the contents or anything related to them.

‘Most of the visitors who buy books were connected with the authors or the publication houses,’ she said, adding that very few readers search for stories and history-related books only.

Children with their families and youths in colourful clothes and with colours on their faces thronged the fair premises at Bangla Academy and Suhrawardy Udyan.

Two teen siblings, Prasaidhi and Dipto, came from Mugda to celebrate Dol and Holi at Dhakeshwari National Temple with their parents in the morning, and then waited at the fair gate for it to open until 2 pm.

Dipto, 13, bought three illustrated children’s books about mythology, fairy tales and history which were based on illustration.

‘I love to read fairy tales that are paired with colourful drawings,’ he said, adding that his reading habit grew from his school libraries which offers a huge collection of books while Prasaidhi, 13, decided not to buy any books because she bought eight books at the previous book fair that she still hasn’t read.

Jihan Sharmin, 26, a student of Eden College, came with her friends before Iftar and, stated that they came to fairground for the meal and then to explore the fair.

‘We do not know details about new books, writers and book quality, which makes selecting books to buy time consuming,’ she said, adding that there are not many promotions for books at the fairground.

A total of 65 new titles were published on the sixth day of the fair, according to academy officials.

A discussion marking the 100th birth anniversary of Tajuddin Ahmad was held at the main stage of the fairground in the afternoon.

The writer and researcher Mohiuddin Ahmed delivered the keynote address, while Dhaka University professor of the peace and conflict studies Sazzad Siddiqui spoke at the event chaired by twriter and educationist Salimullah Khan.

Writer Farseem Mannan Mohammedy and Ejaj Usufi spoke at an event titled Ami Lekhak Balchi at the Suhrawardy Udyan premises in the evening.

A discussion on prominent Bangladeshi Tagore exponent and cultural activist Sanjida Khatun would be held today, noted researcher Mafidul Haque would present the keynote paper.

This year, 549 publishing houses and organisations are participating in the fair, which was rescheduled several times due to the February 12 national elections and a boycott by a section of publishers under the banner of Prokashak Oikya demanding a deferral of the fair. That section of publishers later agreed to take part in the book fair.

This year’s fair would last only 18 days but it is usually a month-long event held throughout February.