POET OF THE PEOPLE

Ahsan Habib was one of the most famous poets and literary figures of Bengali literature. He was also famous as a literature critique and edited many literary journals. He was one of the leading modern poets of Bengali literature during 50s and 60s. We remember this great personality of art and culture on his 29th death anniversary.

Ahsan Habib

Ahsan Habib was born in 2nd February 1917  in a village named Shankarpasha, in Pirojpur  
He was introduced to Bengali literature in his early years as his father used to arrange a literature study circle at home
He could not complete his graduation for economic insolvency
He went to Calcutta in 1936 to seek a job and fortune

Ahsan Habib worked for many literary magazines in Calcutta such as Saogat, Takbir and Bulbul
By that time many of his poetry were been published in famous literary journals like Bichitra and Monthly Mohammadi
Then he took a job of staff artiste at the Kolkata centre of All India Radio
In 1947 Ahsan Habib came to Dhaka following the partition and got married

In 1947 his first book of poetry called “Ratri Shesh” was published
Later he kept on writing and published 25 books including poetry, novels, juvenile literature and edited works
He joined the then Daily Pakistan (later the Daily Bangla) in 1964
He served the Daily till his departure and edited its literature page for 20 years

Ahsan Habib has been awarded with Bangla Academy Award in 1961
In the same year he achieved the prestigious UNESCO Literary Prize
He was conferred Ekushey Padak in 1978 one of the highest civilian award conferred by Bangladesh government
Many of his writings have left scattered in different journals and remain unpublished as a book
Ahsan Habib died on 10th July, 1985 at the age of  68