Thousands mourn Humayun Ahmed
Award-winning author to be buried at country residence
People throng to pay their final respects to Humayun Ahmed
- By ucanews.com reporter, Dhaka
- Bangladesh
- July 24, 2012
Thousands of people gathered in Dhaka yesterday to pay their final respects to Humayun Ahmed, Bangladesh’s most renowned writer and filmmaker, who died while undergoing treatment for colon cancer in New York on Thursday.
The body of Ahmed, 64, arrived home early yesterday and was sent to the Language Martyrs’ Memorial where mourners, including social, cultural and political leaders, paid their floral and tearful tributes ahead of his funeral, which was expected to take place today.
Mohammad Jafar Iqbal, Ahmed’s younger brother, said the author was to be buried today after Johr (midday) prayers in the grounds of Nuhash Palli, the author’s residence in Gazipur district, about 50km from Dhaka.
Born in 1948, Ahmed studied science at Dhaka University and later became a professor of chemistry.
He penned his first novel Nondito Noroke (In Blissful Hell) in 1972 which brought him immediate popularity and success. It changed his life and he quit teaching to become a full-time writer.
He wrote over 200 works of fiction and non-fiction, most of them bestsellers in a career spanning four decades.
His writings were mostly based on the happiness and pain of middle-class life and often focused on the 1971 liberation war with Pakistan, largely because his father was killed by Pakistani soldiers.
His work also won him a number of national and international literary awards.
He also wrote some of the most popular TV dramas in the country’s history before moving into directing.
He directed several TV dramas and seven films, mostly based on his own writings.
Many fellow authors yesterday said Ahmed’s contribution to Bangladeshi literature was immense and that he will be sorely missed.
“His biggest contribution was that he taught young people to read and single-handedly revived the country’s publishing industry,” said Imdadul Haque Milon, another prominent author said.
Sunil Ganguly, a top Indian Bengali author in an interview with BBC Bengali Service called Ahmed “the most popular writer in the Bengali language for a century''.
“He introduced a unique style of writings that made him popular. He infused deadpan humor, intelligence and knowledge, which was very rare in Bengali literature,” he said.
Related Reports
Writer Humayun Ahmed dies at 64
The body of Ahmed, 64, arrived home early yesterday and was sent to the Language Martyrs’ Memorial where mourners, including social, cultural and political leaders, paid their floral and tearful tributes ahead of his funeral, which was expected to take place today.
Mohammad Jafar Iqbal, Ahmed’s younger brother, said the author was to be buried today after Johr (midday) prayers in the grounds of Nuhash Palli, the author’s residence in Gazipur district, about 50km from Dhaka.
Born in 1948, Ahmed studied science at Dhaka University and later became a professor of chemistry.
He penned his first novel Nondito Noroke (In Blissful Hell) in 1972 which brought him immediate popularity and success. It changed his life and he quit teaching to become a full-time writer.
He wrote over 200 works of fiction and non-fiction, most of them bestsellers in a career spanning four decades.
His writings were mostly based on the happiness and pain of middle-class life and often focused on the 1971 liberation war with Pakistan, largely because his father was killed by Pakistani soldiers.
His work also won him a number of national and international literary awards.
He also wrote some of the most popular TV dramas in the country’s history before moving into directing.
He directed several TV dramas and seven films, mostly based on his own writings.
Many fellow authors yesterday said Ahmed’s contribution to Bangladeshi literature was immense and that he will be sorely missed.
“His biggest contribution was that he taught young people to read and single-handedly revived the country’s publishing industry,” said Imdadul Haque Milon, another prominent author said.
Sunil Ganguly, a top Indian Bengali author in an interview with BBC Bengali Service called Ahmed “the most popular writer in the Bengali language for a century''.
“He introduced a unique style of writings that made him popular. He infused deadpan humor, intelligence and knowledge, which was very rare in Bengali literature,” he said.
Related Reports
Writer Humayun Ahmed dies at 64
