fair. Between 300 and 400 publishing houses take part in the fair. Only the Bangladeshi booksellers can join who have at least 25 books of their own. There is Nazrul Moncho, a corner dedicated to poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, a fixed place for month-long cultural meetings, a Lekhok Kunjo, a dedicated place for writers and, a media center for the journalists. Free WiFi service has been enabled since 2019. Nowadays it becomes harder to accommodate the huge crowd and the increasing number of publishers. In 2008, the theme of daily conference was 'Bengali Literature and Culture - Achievement of three decades'. Recent fairs 2008 2008 Ekushey Book Fair was held from 1 to 29 February 2008. As many as 288 publishers participated. A record number of books were published on the occasion. According to official statistics, the number of books published in connection with the book fair was 2578. The sale proceeds from books sold shot up to a record of Taka 200 million. 2021 2021 Ekushey Book Fair faced COVID-19 related crisis. The book fair was shifted in March instead of February. But the attendance was very low and a lot of publisher didn't participate in the fair. The fair was also shortened. 2022 A sudden spike in the COVID-19 cases put the risk of organizing 2022 Ekushey Book Fair. With strict mask-wearing policy, the Boi Mela was organized and was much more successful compared to the previous year. Ekushey Book Fair started on February 15 in 2022, instead of February 1 and extended till March 17. Citations Notes References External links Bangla Academy Book fairs in Bangladesh Cultural festivals in Dhaka Bengali language movement