Kabir Chowdhury

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Kabir Chowdhury
Native name
কবীর চৌধুরী
BornAbul Kalam Mohammad Kabir Manik
(1923-02-09)9 February 1923
British India
Died13 December 2011(2011-12-13) (aged 88)
Naya Paltan, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Occupation
  • Educationist
  • Writer
  • Translator
NationalityBangladeshi
Alma mater
Genreessay, translation, literary criticism
Notable awardsfull list
Spouse
Munier Chowdhury (brother)
  • Ferdousi Mazumder
    • (sister)

    Kabir Chowdhury (9 February 1923 – 13 December 2011) was a Bangladeshi academic, essayist, materialist, translator, cultural worker and civil society activist.[1][2][3]

    Early life and education

    Chowdhury was born in

    socialist ideology.[5]

    Educated at the universities of

    Dhaka, Minnesota and Southern California
    , Kabir Chowdhury worked for over half a century in the fields of education, peace and inter-cultural understanding in several national and international organisations like Afro-Asian Writers Union, Afro-Asian Peoples Solidarity Organization, International Theatre Institute, UNESCO National Commission and Bangladesh Chapter of the World's Peace Council.

    Career

    Chowdhury has written extensively on world's famous writers and painters. He has also written extensively on peace and conflict resolution through discussion and has tried to promote these values by his work as a teacher and as an administrator. He taught at Dhaka College (Dhaka) and B. M. College, Barisal (as Principal) and few years at University of Dhaka as a Professor of English. He has worked as the Secretary, Ministry of Education, Cultural Affairs & Sports, Government of Bangladesh before his voluntary retirement from government service. He was inducted as National Professor of Bangladesh in 1998.[2]

    Chowdhury was a member of the Presidium of the Bangladesh World Peace Council and headed the Bangladesh-Soviet Friendship Society for over a decade. He was the president of the Bangladesh Vidyasagar Society and chairman of the Advisory Council of

    Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee (Committee for Resisting the Killers and Collaborators of 1971). In all the above capacities he has significantly contributed to the dissemination of secular ideas and democratic values. His ideology is materialism. He has written extensively on anti-fundamentalism, religious fanaticism and communalism, and has stressed the need for developing broad human values and for realising the importance of cultural diversity, and the imperatives for developing a pluralistic society.[5]

    In his long career, Chowdhury spoke at many national and international meetings of writers and social activists on literature, socialism, secularism and democracy. He addressed gatherings in Germany, Russia, USA, Bulgaria, Angola, Japan, Pakistan and India. He had the privilege of meeting

    Faiz Ahmed Faiz, India's Visam Sahni, Palestine's Mahmood Dervish and USA's Edward Albee.[2]

    Chowdhury played a leading role in many movements in Bangladesh, especially in the anti-communal movement, movement to establish democracy, and significantly in the movement to ensure the trial of those who had committed crimes against humanity and war crimes during the War of Liberation of Bangladesh in 1971.[6]

    Works

    • Chekhover Galpa (Chekov's Stories, 1969)
    • Samudrer Swad (Taste of the Sea, 1970)
    • Great Gatsby (1971)
    • The Grapes of Wrath (1989)
    • Rupantar (The Metamorphosis (1990)
    • Beowulf (1985)
    • All the King's Men (1992)
    • Girl with a Pearl Earring (2007)
    • Galpa Upanyase Pratikriti Chitra (Portraits in Stories and Novels, 2007)

    Awards

    References

    1. ^ "National Professor Kabir Chowdhury Turns 89". The Daily Star. 9 February 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
    2. ^ a b c "National Professor Kabir Chowdhury, Chairman, National Finance limited". Reflection News. 29 June 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
    3. ^ "Kabir Chowdhury Passes Away". The Daily Star. 13 December 2011. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
    4. ^ "Kabir Chowdhury no more". The Daily Star. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
    5. ^ a b "Prof. Kabir Chowdhury: Voice of Secular Democracy". www.SecularVoiceOfBangladesh.org. Archived from the original on 10 January 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
    6. ^ "Kabir Chowdhury passes away". The Daily Star. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2011.

    External links

    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kabir_Chowdhury&oldid=1204914211"