Book fair or farce ?

Special Correspondent, Florida

28th June Saturday Dhaka Club of Florida organized a Book fair at Delray Civic Center.  There were only three publishers present with few books displayed on tables. No writers from Florida attended the fair which was merely a cultural program, filled with low level song, dance, etc. There was no focus on books or writers, no book discussion, no book inaugural, absolutely no content was focused on books and literature. All the guests were sitting on the chairs turning their backs and facing the stage to  enjoy Bangladeshi filmi songs and Indian songs accompanied by a DJ from Bangladesh !!! Even Bengali words wrongly spelled on the presentation screen.

What a joke in the name of Book fair (Boi Mela). It seems the organizers have never attended the Boi Mela at Bangla Academy where it centers around books. Performance of singers singing filmy songs and dancing, modeling shows etc on stage was really an insult to the concept of Boi Mela, which upholds the martyrdom for language in our culture. It is truly unfortunate that to some expatriate Bangladeshis Boi Mela has turned into a local variety show. Truly a shame !