Syed Manzoorul Islam
Native nameসৈয়দ মনজুরুল ইসলাম
Birth date18 January 1951
Birth placeSylhet, East Bengal, Pakistan
Death date10 October 2025 (aged 74)
Death placeDhaka, Bangladesh
Alma mater
OccupationProfessor · writer
Awards

Syed Manzoorul Islam (18 January 1951 – 10 October 2025) was a Bangladeshi critic, writer, and a professor at the University of Dhaka.[1] As a literary critic, he wrote criticism on writers including Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Sudhindranath Dutta, Samar Sen, and Shamsur Rahman.[2] He became the president of PEN Bangladesh in January 2018.[3]

Islam won Ekushey Padak in 2018 in the language and literature category.[4] Earlier, he received a Bangla Academy Literary Award in 1996,[2] and his 2005 short stories collection Prem o Prarthanar Galpo was Prothom Alo's book of the year.

Early life and career

Islam was born in Sylhet to Syed Amirul Islam and Rabeya Khatun. He passed the entrance examination from Sylhet Government Pilot High School in 1966 and Intermediate examination from Sylhet MC College in 1968.[citation needed] He received his graduate and post-graduate degree from the University of Dhaka respectively in 1971 and 1972. Later he went to Canada and earned a PhD from Queen's University at Kingston in 1981 for his thesis on the influence of Emanuel Swedenborg's philosophy in the poetry of W. B. Yeats. In 1989, he went to the University of Southern Mississippi at Hattiesburg as a Fulbright Scholar and taught there one semester. He retired from the faculty position at the University of Dhaka and joined University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh.[3]

Islam died from complications of a heart attack on 10 October 2025, at the age of 74.[5]

Literary writings

Islam used to write from his childhood. While reading in class six, he published his writing in a magazine, Shikkhok Samachar.[6] During his university days as a student, his friend's father fell sick and died in pain. This emotionally affected Islam and led him to write his first story, "Bishal Mrittu" in 1973.[6] It received a positive response; but he abstained from publishing anything during his days in Canada. On his return to Bangladesh, he returned to writing and began contributing a regular column "Olosh Diner Hawa" in the literary section of the Dainik Sangbad. He wrote on issues including art and literature. In 1989, Islam started writing for the magazine Bichinta, which published many of his post-modern stories.

Islam described himself as "a critic by training and a writer by compulsion".[7] Though he wrote in many genres, he himself valued his fictional work more than his other writings.[7] In his stories, he usually incorporated his own experiences. He tried to live the life of his characters, seeing the world through their eyes and describing their pain and happiness.[7] Of the surrealistic nature in his writing, he said that in his childhood he used to listen to fairy-tales in which surrealistic elements were an integral part and that gave his writing a similar texture.[7] He believed that "the surreal is the flip side of reality - it is what gives meaning to our everydayness".[7]

Bibliography

Collections of Short stories

  • Shrestho Golpo (1994)
  • Thaka na-thakar Golpo (1996)
  • Kach Bhanga Rater Golpo (1998)
  • Alo O Ondhokar Dekhar Golpo (2001)
  • Prem O Prarthonar Golpo (2005)
  • Shukhdukkher Galpo (2011)
  • Bela Obelar Galpo (2012)
  • The Merman's Prayer and Other Stories (in English) (2013)

Novels

  • Adhakhana Manush (2006)
  • Tin Parber Jiban (2008)
  • Kanagalir Manushera (2009)
  • Ajgubi Rat (2010)
  • Dinratriguli (2013)

Essays

  • Nandantattwa (1985)
  • Katipaya Prabandha (1992)
  • Essays on Ekushey: The Language Movement 1952 (in Bengali). Dhaka: Bangla Academy. 1994. ISBN 984-07-2968-3.
  • Rabindranther Jyamiti o Anyanya Shilpaprashanga (2011)
  • Olosh Diner Haowa (2012)

References

  1. ^ "Syed Manzoorul Islam: Tales of the post-modern". The Daily Star. 18 June 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  2. ^ Selina Hossain, Nurul Islam and Mobarak Hossain (eds.) (2000). Bangla Academy Dictionary of Writers. Dhaka: Bangla Academy. p. 187. ISBN 984-07-4052-0.
  3. ^ "Syed Manzoorul Islam: "A Veritable Man of Letters"". The Daily Star. 2018-01-20. Retrieved 2018-01-21.
  4. ^ "21 named for Ekushey Padak". The Daily Star. 2018-02-09. Retrieved 2025-10-10.
  5. ^ "Syed Manzoorul Islam, emeritus professor and eminent academic, dies at 74". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 2025-10-10.
  6. ^ "Reading should be turned into a habit: Syed Manzoorul Islam". Daily Sun. 8 February 2011. Archived 21 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  7. ^ "Surreal: Flip side of reality". The Times of India. 13 April 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2012.