Bengali poetry on the rise

The biggest international literary festival is also the biggest occasion for Bangladeshi poets writing in Bengali to get together and stand on a shared platform to interact directly with lovers of Bengali poetry. Asad Chowdhury, Jahar Sen Majumder, Helal Hafiz and Kamal Chowdhury, among many others, will participate in the panels on Bengali poetry. Asad Chowdhury is a renowned poet, writer, translator and journalist. The Liberation War of Bangladesh is a major theme in his poetic works. Reflection on social degradation also comes as a major theme in his poems. He is well known as a reciter and television presenter. A former director general of Bangla Academy, he won the Ekhushey Padak for his contribution to poetry. Some of his notable works include Tabak deya Paan, Bitto Nai Beshat Nai and Modhyey Math Theke.  

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Helal Hafiz is a well-known modern poet who had a sweeping impact on the youths of Bangladesh in the post-independence period. His poems deal with love, young age and revolution. He has connected love and revolution in a string that inspires revolutionary zeal among the young generation of readers. His most famous work includes Je jole Aagun Jole and Kobita 71. He won the Bangla Academy Award in 2013.  

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Jahar Sen Majumder is an eminent poet, essayist, and research scholar from West Bengal, India. With more than thirty books to his credit, he is well known among readers of both Bangladesh and West Bengal. His famous works include Brishti O Aguner Music Room, Bipodjonok Bromho Balika Bidaloy, Bhobchakra Shondhakal and Jonyoko Ishorer Golpo. Originally from Barishal in Bangladesh, Sen’s poems bring out the loss and pain of the partition.  

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Kamal Chowdhury is a modern poet who enjoys a special place in contemporary Bengali poetry. He has stepped into the world of poetry with his youthful and defiant verses in the mid-1970s. Love, revolution and lyricism are the salient features in his verses. His poems deal with the upheaval of post-war Bangladesh. He is well known for his romantic style of writing as well. He has published fifteen volumes of poetry, two collections of essays and a few research studies. He won the Bangla Academy Award in 2011.