FOSWAL’s Special Literary Award for Bangabandhu handed to PM
The Special Literary Award given to Bangladesh’s founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman by the Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature (FOSWAL) was handed over to his daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday, reports news agency BSS.
Writers and researchers Ramendu Majumder and Mofidul Haque presented the award to the Prime Minister at her official residence, Ganabhaban.
Letters and books written by Academy Award-winning author Ajeet Cour were also handed over to the prime minister at this time along with a centenary antique “Phulkari Chadar” as gift.
The FOSWAL on 26 March conferred the “Special Literary Award” on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for his trilogy - The Unfinished Memoirs, The Prison Diaries and The New China as I Saw.
Prime minister’s deputy press secretary KM Shakhawat Moon said, after receiving the award, the prime minister thanked all the concerned for this prize.
Sheikh Hasina said that Bangabandhu is at the height of the Himalayas as a politician, but he also demonstrated the signature of unique talent in his writing.
Referring to the historic 7 March Speech, the prime minister said this speech of Bangabandhu today is a world document. “This speech, which inspired the entire nation on the eve of the Liberation War in 1971, is a political epic,” she added.
“Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature is honoured to present SAARC Literature Award-2023 in its 63rd Literature Festival to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for outstanding literary excellence for his trilogy,” said a citation before handing over the award.
Eminent Punjabi novelist and FOSWAL Founder president Ajeet Cour formally handed over the award to the visiting Bangladeshi writers and researchers Ramendu Majumder and Mofidul Haque at the festival.
SAARC Literary Award is an annual award conferred by the Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature (FOSWAL) since 2001.
The citation said, “Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, architect of Independent Bangladesh, ‘Bangabandhu’ to his people, is a towering figure of national liberation of oppressed people of the world. Like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther king he was brutally murdered by the forces of darkness, but no power on earth can erase him from history.”
“A new dimension of his life opened up when his long-lost prison diary and note book came to light and was subsequently published,” it added.
The citation further said that the “trilogy has great merit as a political document and a human testament written with love and compassion, by a man who changed the course of history and led his people to freedom.”
“It is the proud privilege of Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature to honour Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for outstanding literary excellence for his trilogy”, it added.
The three-day regional literary conference of FOSWAL began in the Indian capital New Delhi on 26 March. A large number of eminent writers and literatures from the South East Asian region including Bangladesh had joined in the conference.