Shamsur Rahman

Shamsur Rahman Biography

Shamsur Rahman was a Bangladeshi poet, columnist and journalist of Indian origin. A great literal figure in the second half of the 20^th century, he is considered a key figure in Bengali literature. He is also regarded as the unofficial poet laureate of Bangladesh. Rahman is the recipient of numerous literary honours including Ananda Puraskar (1994), Bangla Academy Award (1969) and Ekushey Padak (1977). His poem written in 1971 during the liberation war in Bangladesh makes him an iconic figure of Bangladesh.

Shamsur Rahman was born in Dhaka of British India in 1929. He hails from Pahartoli of Narshingdi district. He was born as the fourth child to his parents. His parents had 13 kids. He passed matriculation in 1945 and completed IA from Dhaka College. Soon after his graduation from the college, he started writing poetry at the age of 18. Though he studied English literature studies for three years, he didn’t attend exams. Later he completed graduation and his master’s degree as well.

After the completion of his studies, he served as a journalist throughout his career and also worked as an editor of a few publications. He published his first poem, Unissho Unoponchash in 1949. He became outspoken liberal intellectual in the 1990s, though he was a shy person during his younger days. He stood against religious fundamentalism and reactionary nationalism in Bangladesh in the 1990s which irked many leaders. A murder attempt was made by Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami in 1999, but he survived.

As a writer, he contributed in the form of poetry, novels, short stories, autobiography, translation works, children’s literature and other works. Kaaler Dhuloy Lekha and Smritir Shohor are his autobiography works. His health deteriorated towards the late 1990s, and he passed away on 17 August 2006 of heart and kidney failure. He was in coma for last few days.

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Updated: June 26, 2016