Kushtia, April 25 (Correspondent/OurVoice): The 1st Virtual Book Fair UK kicked off on Friday stressing the theme ‘Real Life Stories’. Scheduled to continue till May 9, 2021, the events of the book fair include book promotion and sale, literary and artistic tributes to English literature, conferences, interviews, workshops, shows, music, stories and the like.
Former Vice Chancellor of Islamic University in Kushtia Professor Dr. Rashid Askari participated in 1st Virtual Book Fair UK’s panel discussion on Saturday night.
The UK Virtual Book Fair organised the panel discussion titled ‘Book Fair in the Time of Pandemic’. Presided over by the eminent Bangladeshi scholar, poet, translator, essayist and Editor of the literary magazine Teerandaz Professor Dr Masuduzzaman, Dr Rashid Askari spoke in the session as a representative of Bangladesh.
Indian Bengali poet, editor and translator Subodh Sarkar, French poet and translator Marilyne Bertoncini, Polish author and translator Anna Maria Stępień, Israeli poet, writer and publisher Soshana Vegh, Bangladeshi-born British academic and writer Mehdi Mahmud Chowdhury were also present as the discussants.
Addressing the programme, Dr. Askari said ”Now after participating in the UK Virtual Book Fair, I am left with the realization that, may be, our Book Fair too could have yielded a better result, if it had been organized in a blended manner—both physically and virtually in keeping with the pandemic situation”
”Due to the prolonged pandemic, book fairs have been reduced to an endangered species surviving only on the online virtual world, which is a simulated three-dimensional world created by our computers and smart phones. And we are having to adjust to this brave new world of technology.” said Dr Rashid Askari.
