The number of new books was on the decline for three consecutive days and the total number of new titles rose to 1,577 on Wednesday, the fifteenth day of the ongoing month-long Amar Ekuskey Book Fair.

It was the lowest number of new titles launched in the second week in the past five years.

A total of 84 new titles were published on Wednesday, raising the total number of books published in the fair to 1,577 so far.

Of the total number of books published in this year’s fair till Wednesday, the highest 468 are collections of poems, followed by 256 novels, 180 books of stories, 85 essay books, 61 biographies, 57 children’s books, 45 books on history, 37 books on the War of Independence, 32 travelogues, 27 rhymes, 26 books on science, 22 research works, 17 books on health, 16 plays and 11 books on politics.

According to Bangla Academy, 1,595 new titles were launched in the first 15 days of the book fair in 2022, 1,770 new titles in 2021, 2,194 titles in 2020 and 1,999 titles in 2019.

Chondrobindu Prokashon stall in-charge Jahid Hasan said that his publishing house mostly brought collections of poems.

He said that the stall had 27 new collections of poems, seven translation books, four short story books and three essay books.

Ashikur Rahman, executive director of Shova Prokash, said that the house brought 32 new titles which was less than the number of new arrivals of previous years and most of the books had already arrived.

Charulipi Prokashon publisher Humayun Kabir said that the house brought 23 new titles but did not receive much response from visitors.

‘People are not showing much interest in buying new books due to the price of the new books and the economic situation,’ said Humayun.

Dhaka University student Imran Rabbi said that he bought some short story books and novels published in previous years for his sister.

‘The price of new books is quite high. So I bought books published in previous years,’ said Rabbi.

On Wednesday, a discussion session on the little magazine was held on the main stage of the fair on the Bangla Academy premises.

The fair will open at 3:00pm on Thursday.