Humayun Ahmed - Bangladeshi Most Popular Legendary Writer

Humayun Ahmed

Father: Foyzur Rahman Ahmed

Mother: Ayesha Foyez

Village: Kutubpur in Netrokona

Birth : 13 November 1948

Died: 19 July 2012

Humayun Ahmed was a famous writer in Bangladesh. He had a magical power for book writing. He was born in 1948 and became a chemistry professor at Dhaka University before becoming a full-time writer. He was the son of a police officer who was killed during the country’s liberation war against Pakistan in 1971.

Humayun Ahmed’s emergence in the Bangla literary world happened in the early 1970s. According to Times of India, "Humayun was a custodian of the Bangladeshi literary culture whose contribution single-handedly shifted the capital of Bengali literature from Kolkata to Dhaka without any war or revolution". His first novel, 'Sankhanila Karagara', published in 1972, caused a great stir among readers and the literary circles in Bangladesh. Since then, he has published more than a hundred novels. 

Many of his novels have been adapted successfully for television serials and plays. He secured a firm place for himself in people’s hearts with the publication of his famous novel, ‘Nondito Noroke’ (In Blissful Hell) in 1972 while he studied at the university.

Of all the books Humayun Ahmed wrote, the ones on Himu were the most popular. The author was fortunate enough to witness people dressed up as Himu, when they came to visit him. Many fans would come to the Ekushey Book Fair, where most of his books were launched - dressed in Himu's signature yellow panjabi.

Himu is a popular fictional character created by Humayun Ahmed, who appears in a series of novels. The Himu series became very popular among the book readers of the country. Although it is mentioned in the novels that the name "Himu" is short for Himalay, Humayun said that he actually derived Himu from his own name, Humayun. When asked whether Himu is his alter ego, he said that he is half Himu, and half Misir Ali (another popular character from his books).

In a sign of his popularity, at the country’s largest annual publishing event, the Ekushey Book Fair, tens of thousands of fans would queue for hours for his autograph. In recent years he had stopped attending to help the authorities control the crowds.

Humayun did his Masters in Chemistry at Dhaka University and obtained his Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry from North Dakota State University. He is a former Associate Professor of Dhaka University and an honorary fellow in writing at the University of Iowa. 

As a writer, Humayun often displayed a fascination for creating stories around supernatural events; his style was characterized as magic realism. He is regarded as the most popular writer in the Bengali language for a century and according to many, he was even more popular than Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay.

 

As of February 2004, Humayun continued to top the best-sellers list of Bangla Academy book fair, a feat that had been maintained over the previous two decades. In 2012 he was appointed as a special adviser to the Bangladesh Mission in the United Nations.

He won every top award for writing in Bangladesh in a career that also saw him make half a dozen hit films, such as “Aguner Poroshmoni” (The Touchstone of Fire) and “Srabon Megher Din” (Monsoon Days). “Ghetuputro Komola” is selected for 85th Oscar from Bangladesh in ‘Foreign Language Film’ category. This film is the final work of famous film-director Late Humayun Ahmed and produced by Impress Telefilm.

Among other prestigious awards, Humayun is the winner of Bangla Academy Award (1981), and the Ekushey Padak (1994), National Film Award (Best story 1993, Best film 1994, Best dialogue 1994).

 

Humayun wrote over 200 fiction and non-fiction books, almost all of them bestsellers in Bangladesh, often tackling the life struggles of the middle class in lucid and easily understandable Bangla, peppered with humors. Many have since been translated into English, Japanese and Russian among other foreign languages, including “Gouripur Junction”, a work of fiction centered on the small town in northern Bangaldesh where Humayun was born. The Library of Congress has seventy-three of his works in its collection.

Humayun Ahmed was a leading Bangladeshi writer, and the most prolific among his contemporaries. His phenomenal success is attributed to his ability to tell stories of contemporary Bengali men and women in simple and unostentatious language, portraying them with spellbinding intimacy. Although his characters belong to a broad spectrum of society, Humayun is at his best while depicting the Bengali middle class.

Bangladesh’s most popular fiction writer Humayun Ahmed has died after a near year-long battle against colon cancer at Bellevue Hospital in New York” on Thursday, 29th July, 2012. He was 64. 

Legendary writer Humayun Ahmed was laid to eternal rest at his most cherished place, under the shadow of litchi orchard at Nuhash Palli, as thousands of people came to pay their last respects. His admirers, fans, well-wishers, relatives and villagers paid an emotional farewell to the best storyteller. 

Humayun Ahmed was a Bangladeshi author, dramatist, screenwriter, playwright and filmmaker. He is our pride & we feel proud of him.


Photo collected from the web.