12 to get Bangla Academy Award

Twelve personalities have been declared as recipients of the Bangla Academy Sahitya Puraskar 2017, reports UNB.

Bangla Academy director general Shamsuzzaman Khan announced the names at a press briefing at the Shamsur Rehman auditorium on Saturday.

The recipients are - Mohammad Sadik and Maruful Islam (poetry), Mamun Hossain (fiction), professor Mahbubul Haque (essay), professor Rafiqullah Khan (research), Aminur Rahman Bhuiyan (translation), Kamrul Hasan Bhuiyan and Surma Jahid (literature on Liberation War), Shakur Majid (biography and travelogue), Maloy Bhoumik (drama), Moshtak Ahmed (science, technology and environment) and Jhrana Dash Purokhayshto (juvenile literature).

The winners will receive a cheque of Tk 100,000 each this year while the recipients will get the Tk. 200,000 from the next award.

Last year, eleven personalities received Bangla Academy Sahitya Puraskar 2016.

The recipients are Altaf Hossain (poetry), Shaheen Akhtar (fiction), Abul Momen and Atiur Rahman (jointly for essay), Moniruzzaman (research), Abdus Selim (translation), Tajul Mohammad (literature on Liberation War), Faruk Chowdhury (biography and travelogue), Masum Reza (drama), Sharif Khan (science, technology and environment) and Sujan Barua (juvenile literature).

Bangla Academy Shahitya Puroshkar (Bangla Academy Literary Award), is given by the Bangla Academy of Bangladesh in recognition of creative genius in advancement and overall contribution in the field of Bengali language and literature.

It was introduced in 1960 and recognized six categories: poetry, novels, short stories, essays, juvenile literature and translation. Beginning in 1985, two more awards were introduced to recognize overall contributions to Bengali language and literature.