Bengali poetry is a rich tradition of poetry in the Bengali language and has many different forms. Originating in Bengal, the history of Bengali poetry underwent three successive stages of development: poetry of the early age, the Medieval period and the age of modern poetry. All ages have seen different forms of poetry and poetical tradition. It reached the pinnacle during the Bengali Renaissance period although it has a rich tradition and has grown independent of the movement. Major Bengali Poets throughout the ages are Chandidas, Alaol, Ramprasad Sen, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Nabinchandra Sen, Rabindranath Tagore, Dwijendralal Ray, Satyendranath Dutta, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Jibanananda Das, Jasimuddin, Sukanta Battacharya, Al Mahmud.
The Bangla Academy is the official regulatory body of the Bengali language in Bangladesh. It is an autonomous institution funded by the Government of Bangladesh that fosters the Bengali language, literature and culture, works to develop and implement national language policy and conducts original research in Bengali. Established in 1955, it is located in the Burdwan House in Shahbagh, Dhaka, within the grounds of the University of Dhaka and Suhrawardy Udyan. The Bangla Academy hosts the annual Ekushey Book Fair.
Rudra Mohammad Shahidullah was a Bangladeshi poet noted for his revolutionary and romantic poetry. He is considered one of the leading Bengali poets of the 1970s. He received Munir Chaudhury Memorial Award in 1980 and Ekushey Padak in 2024
Malay Roy Choudhury was an Indian Bengali poet, playwright, short story writer, essayist and novelist who founded the Hungryalist movement in the 1960s.
The Charyapada (চর্যাপদ) is a collection of mystical poems, songs of realization in the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism from the tantric tradition in Assam, Bengal, Bihar and Odisha.
Ahsan Habib was a Bangladeshi poet and literary figure in Bengali culture. He was born in the village of Shankarpasha, in Pirojpur. Before the India-Pakistan partition, he worked on several literary magazines: Takbir, Bulbul (1937–38) and The Saogat (1939-43) and he was a staff artiste at the Kolkata Centre of All India Radio. After partition he came to Dhaka and worked on Daily Azad, Monthly Mohammadi, Daily Krishak, Daily Ittehad, Weekly Prabaha, etc.
Abdul Mannan Syed was a Bangladeshi poet, and critic. He is known for his considerable research works on Kazi Nazrul Islam, Jibanananda Das, Farrukh Ahmad, Syed Waliullah, Manik Bandyopadhyay, Bishnu De, Samar Sen, Roquiah Sakhawat Hossain, Abdul Ghani Hazari, Muhammad Wajed Ali, Prabodh Chandra Sen. From 2002 to 2004, he held the position of Executive Director of Nazrul Institute.
Bengali novels occupy a major part of Bengali literature. Despite the evidence of Bengali literary traditions dating back to the 7th century, the format of novel or prose writing did not fully emerge until the early nineteenth century. The development of Bengali novel was fueled by colonial encounter, booming print culture, growth of urban centers, and increased middle-class readership Upanyas, the Bangla word for novel, is derived from the words upanay and upanyasta.
Kānhapā, Kanha or Kanhapada or Krishnacharya was one of the main poets of Charyapada, the earliest known example of Assamese, Bengali, Maithili, Bhojpuri, and Odia literature. He was a tantric Buddhist and a disciplle of Jalandhar. Kanhapada is also a prominent siddhacharya to Nath Sampradaya after Matsyendranatha and Gorakhnath. His poems in Charjyapad are written in a code, whereby every poem has a descriptive or narrative surface meaning but also encodes tantric Buddhist teachings. Some experts believe this was to conceal sacred knowledge from the uninitiated, while others hold that it was to avoid religious persecution.
Motiur Rahman Mollik was a poet lyricist, compositor, writer, organizer, researcher, editor, singer and a cultural leader. He was one of the modern poets of Bengali literature.
M. Harunur Rashid was a Bangladeshi academic, educational administrator, editor, and translator. He was a noted writer of Sufism and Sufi literature and a commentator of social, political, and literary texts.
Adamjee Literary Award, also known as Adamjee Prize, is a literary award bestowed by the government of Pakistan. It is presented by the president. The award seeks to recognize those people who have made "meritorious contribution" to the literature of Pakistan. It was first introduced by Pakistan Writers' Guild in 1959. Muhammad Shahidullah served as the permanent chairman of the award.
Dhakaiya Urdu, sometimes unofficially referred to as Sobbasi Language or Khosbasi Language, is a Bengalinized dialect of Urdu that is native to Old Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is being spoken by the Sobbas or Khosbas community, Nawab Family and some other communities such as the Shia community of Old Dhaka. The usage of this language is gradually declining due to negative perceptions following it being forced upon the people of erstwhile East Bengal during Bengali language movement in Pakistan. Today, Dhakaiya Urdu is one of the two dialects of Urdu spoken in Bangladesh; the other one being the Urdu spoken by the Bihari refugees.
