Kabir Chowdhury

Kabir Chowdhury (9 February 1923 – 13 December 2011) was a Bangladeshi academic, essayist, materialist, translator, cultural worker and civil society activist. He received Bangla Academy Literary Award, Ekushey Padak (1991) and Independence Day Award (1997). He became a National Professor of Bangladesh in 1998.

Chowdhury was educated at the University of Dhaka, University of Minnesota and University of Southern California.

Career Chowdhury has written extensively on world's famous writers and painters. He has also written extensively on peace and conflict resolution through discussion and has tried to promote these values by his work as a teacher and as an administrator. He taught at Dhaka College (Dhaka) and B. M. College, Barisal (as Principal) and few years at University of Dhaka as a professor of English. He has worked as the Secretary, Ministry of Education, Cultural Affairs & Sports, Government of Bangladesh before his voluntary retirement from government service. He was inducted as National Professor of Bangladesh in 1998.

Chowdhury authored, edited, compiled, and translated over 200 books. He wrote both in English and Bangla and also translated in those languages. He translated into Bangla the works of Ernest Hemingway, Guy de Maupassant, Anton Chekhov, August Strindberg, Henrik Ibsen, Samuel Beckett, Naguib Mahfouz, J. M. Coetzee, and José Saramago. He died of cardiac arrest on 13 December 2011 at his residence in Naya Paltan, Dhaka at the age of 89.

Personal life Chowdhury married Meher Kabir (1919–2018), an academic and litterateur, in 1945. They had three daughters - the eldest, Shaheen Mahbuba Kabir (d. 2021), was a professor of English department of Jahangirnagar University.

Chowdhury's notable siblings include actress Ferdousi Mazumder, educationist Munier Choudhury (1925–1971), columnist Shamsher Choudhury (d. 2012), language activist Nadera Begum (d. 2013) and the first Bengali Cadet to be awarded Sword of Honour at Pakistan Military Academy, Lt. Colonel Abdul Qayyum Chowdhury (d. 2013). Another sister, Rahela Banu, is married to Shawkat Hussain, a former professor of English at the University of Dhaka.

Works Chekhover Galpa (Chekov's Stories, 1969) Samudrer Swad (Taste of the Sea, 1970) Great Gatsby (1971) The Grapes of Wrath (1989) Rupantar (The Metamorphosis (1990) Beowulf (1985) All the King's Men (1992) Girl with a Pearl Earring (2007) Galpa Upanyase Pratikriti Chitra (Portraits in Stories and Novels, 2007)

Awards Independence Day Award (1997) National Professor of Bangladesh (1998) Ekushey Padak (1991) Bangla Academy Literary Award (1973) Mohammad Nasiruddin Literary Award (1986) William Carey Award (1994) Tagore Peace Award