Kazi Nazrul Islam was a Bengali poet, short story writer, journalist, lyricist and musician. He is the national poet of Bangladesh. Nazrul produced a large body of poetry, music, messages, novels, and stories with themes, that included equality, justice, anti-imperialism, humanity, rebellion against oppression and religious devotion. Nazrul Islam's activism for political and social justice as well as writing a poem titled as "Bidrohī", meaning "the rebel" in Bengali, earned him the title of "Bidrohī Kôbi". His compositions form the avant-garde music genre of Nazrul Gīti.
Humayun Azad was a Bangladeshi poet, novelist, short-story writer, critic, linguist, columnist and professor of Dhaka University. He wrote more than 70 titles. He was awarded the Bangla Academy Literary Award in 1986 for his contributions to Bengali linguistics. In 2012, the government of Bangladesh honored him with Ekushey Padak posthumously for his contributions to Bengali literature.
Intizar Hussain or Intezar Hussain was a Pakistani writer of Urdu novels, short stories, poetry and nonfiction. He is widely recognised as a leading literary figure of Pakistan.
The Progressive Writers' Association or the Progressive Writers' Movement of India or Anjuman Tarraqi Pasand Mussanafin-e-Hind or Akhil Bhartiya Pragatishil Lekhak Sangh was a progressive literary movement in pre-partition British India. Some branches of this writers' group existed around the world besides in India and Pakistan
Mir Syed Mosharraf Hossain was a Bengali writer, novelist, playwright and essayist. He is considered to be the first major writer to emerge from the Muslim society of Bengal, and one of the finest prose writers in the Bengali language. His magnum opus Bishad Sindhu is a popular classic among the Bengali readership.
South Asian literature refers to the literature that is composed by authors in the Indian subcontinent and its diaspora. It has an extensive history with some of the earliest known pieces of literature. South Asia has many different languages that have been spoken due to its size and how long people have been inhabiting it. This has caused the region to be the most linguistically diverse region in the planet, and as well as having four language families, hundreds of languages and thousands of dialects. Many modern pieces of South Asian literature are written in English for a global audience. Many of the ancient texts of the subcontinent have been lost due to the inability to preserve verbally transmitted literature. South Asia has many significant authors that shaped the postcolonial period and response to the British establishment in the subcontinent. Modern South Asian literature has a deep focus on independence from Britain, mainly expressed in prose, this literature commonly discusses the partition of India and how different South Asian nations, religions, and cultures interact with each other. Countries to which South Asian literature's writers are linked include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Works from Bhutan, Myanmar, Tibet, and the Maldives are sometimes also included.
Abdur Rouf Choudhury was a Bengali writer.
Tabish Khair is an Indian English author and associate professor in the Department of English, University of Aarhus, Denmark. His books include Babu Fictions (2001), The Bus Stopped (2004), which was shortlisted for the Encore Award (UK) and The Thing About Thugs (2010), which has been shortlisted for a number of prizes, including the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature and the Man Asian Literary Prize. His poem Birds of North Europe won first prize in the sixth Poetry Society All India Poetry Competition held in 1995. In 2022, he published a new Sci Fi novel, [The Body by the Shore].
Syed Ali Ahsan was a Bangladeshi poet, writer and university academic. He was awarded Ekushey Padak (1982) and Independence Day Award (1987) by the Government of Bangladesh. In 1987, he was selected as the National Professor of Bangladesh. He was credited as the official English translator of the National Anthem of Bangladesh.
Badruddin Umar is a Bangladeshi Marxist–Leninist theorist, political activist, historian, writer, intellectual and leader of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist–Leninist) (Umar). His father, Abul Hashim, was a prominent politician in the Indian subcontinent.
Abhay Kumar is a career diplomat, poet, author, editor, translator, anthologist and artist. He has been appointed as India's first resident Ambassador to Georgia. He currently serves as the deputy director general of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), New Delhi. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 2003 after doing master's in geography at Jawaharlal Nehru University and Kirorimal College, Delhi University. He served as India's 21st ambassador to Madagascar and Comoros from 2019 to 2022 and as India's Deputy Ambassador to Brazil from 2016 to 2019. He earlier served as Spokesperson and First Secretary at the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, Nepal from 2012 to 2016 and as Acting Consul General of India in Saint Petersburg, and Third/Second Secretary at Indian Embassy, Moscow, Russia from 2005 to 2010. He served as Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy at the Ministry of External Affairs from 2010 to 2012 and sent out the first tweet on its behalf in 2010 starting a new era of India's Digital Diplomacy.
Bimal Guha is a Bangladeshi poet. He appeared on the Bangladesh literary scene in the 1970s. His themes revolve around the war of liberation and the eternal subjects of love, nature, motherland, mother-tongue, tradition, and modernity.
Neamat Imam is a Bangladeshi-Canadian author of literary fiction. His first novel, The Black Coat, a Quill & Quire Book of the Year 2016, was published by Penguin Books India from its Hamish Hamilton imprint in 2013. It is considered the "gold standard for any book which seeks to engage with South Asian politics or history" and a "future classic." He has also authored 2 plays, 2 novellas, and a collection of poetry in Bengali language.
Harun-Ur-Rashid Askari, known as Rashid Askari, is a writer, columnist, media personality, and an academic in Bangladesh. He was the 12th vice-chancellor of Islamic University, Bangladesh. He served as the Director General of the Bangla Academy for less than a month in 2024. Among post-1990s Bangladeshi writers, He is easily on par with the major ones who gained identical and impressive mastery over both Bangla and English.
The Black Coat is a historical novel by Bangladeshi-Canadian author Neamat Imam. It is "a meditation on power, greed and the human cost of politics." The Sunday Guardian commented that it is "destined to be a future classic" and will be used as the "gold standard for any book which seeks to engage with South Asian politics or history."
Baṅgamātā, Bangla Maa, Mother Bengal or simply বাংলা/ Bangla, is a personification of Bengal created during the Bengali Renaissance and later adopted by the Bengali nationalists. In Bangladeshi Bengali and Indian Bengali poetry, literature, cultural and patriotic song, she has become a symbol of Bengalis and their culture, Bangladesh and India's West Bengal & Tripura. She is considered as the personification of the Bengali Language & Culture, The State of West Bengal and People's Republic of Bangladesh. The Mother Bengal represents not only biological motherhood but its attributed characteristics as well – divineness, protection, never ending love, consolation, care, the beginning and the end of life.
Bangladeshi English literature (BEL) refers to the body of literary work written in the English language in Bangladesh and the Bangladeshi diaspora. In academia, it is also now referred to as Bangladeshi Writing in English (BWE). Early prominent Bengali writers in English include Ram Mohan Roy, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Begum Rokeya, and Rabindranath Tagore. In 1905, Begum Rokeya (1880–1932) wrote Sultana's Dream, one of the earliest examples of feminist science fiction. Modern writers of the Bangladeshi diaspora include Tahmima Anam, Neamat Imam, Monica Ali, and Zia Haider Rahman.
Kazi Anis Ahmed is a Bangladeshi writer, publisher and businessman. He is a co-founder and publisher of the English-language daily newspaper Dhaka Tribune, online news portal Bangla Tribune and the literary journal Bengal Lights. Ahmed is the author of three works of fiction. He is a co-director of the annual Bangladeshi literary festival, Dhaka Lit Fest.
Azfar Hussain is a Bangladeshi American theorist, critic, academic, bilingual writer, poet, and translator. He is an Associate Professor of Integrative, Religious, and Intercultural Studies within the Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, and vice-president of the Global Center for Advanced Studies (GCAS) and honorary GCAS Professor of English, World Literature, and Interdisciplinary Studies.
Sharbari Zohra Ahmed is a Bangladeshi American writer. She is known for being a writer on the ABC thriller Quantico, which made her one of the first Bangladeshi women to write for American network television. Ahmed has also published a book, fictional stories, and plays. Additionally, Ahmed is a professor at Manhatanville College's MFA program.
