Asad Chowdhury

Asad Chowdhury (born 11 February 1943) is a poet, writer, translator, radio, television personality and journalist, as well as a cultural activist in Bangladesh. He won Ekushey Padak in 2013 and Bangla Academy Literary Award in 1987. Choudhury was born on 11 February 1943, to an aristocratic Bengali Muslim family known as the Zamindars of Ulania in Mehendiganj, then located under the Backergunge District of the Bengal Province. His ancestor, Shaykh Muhammad Asad Ali, arrived migrated from Persia to Ayodhya, later settling in the Bengali city of Murshidabad. Ali's great great great grandson Muhammad Hanif served as a military commander under Shaista Khan, the Mughal governor of Bengal. He was noted to have contributed to the suppression of Arakanese and Portuguese pirates in the Bay of Bengal. Hanif then entered the greater Barisal region where he served as the Jamadar of the Sangram Fort in Govindapur and settled in the village of Tetulia, Hizla. The family were later endowed the title of Choudhury, and from his descendants, Muhammad Taqi migrated from the Tetulia Jamadar Bari to the village of Ulania. His son, Hasan Raja, was Asad Chowdhury's great grandfather. Hasan Raja and his two brothers, Naya Raja and Kala Raja, became notable as traders of areca nut, salt and rice, and built strong relationships with the Marwari merchants of Calcutta during the Company Raj. The three brothers established the ports of Lalganj, Aliganj and Kaliganj, and with their amassed wealth, established the zamindari of Idilpur. Raja's son was Majid Chowdhury, whose son was Eslam Chowdhury, whose son Muhammad Arif Chowdhury was Asad Choudhury's father. Chowdhury completed his master's degree in Bengali in 1964 from the University of Dhaka. He started his profession as a lecturer in Bengali language and literature at Brahmanbaria College in 1973. During the liberation war of Bangladesh, he was a contributor and broadcaster of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra in Kolkata. He has also been assistant editor in “The Joybangla” (Kalkata, 1971) and in “The Daily Janapada” (Dhaka, February 1973). He was a correspondent for The Daily Purbodesh from 1968 to 1971. He served as the director at the Bangla Academy, Dhaka and worked as an editor at the Bengali service of Deutsche Welle after his retirement. Chowdhury is a life member of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh and a fellow of Bangla Academy, Dhaka, as well as being the ex-Vice President of The Radio and TV Artists Association. He has held many other positions over his life, including: