Ekushey Padak-winning poet Asad Chowdhury passed away at a hospital in Canada’s Toronto on Thursday aged 80.
He breathed his last at Lakeridge Health Oshawa at 1:03pm Bangladesh time, confirmed the poet’s son-in-law, Nadim Iqbal, in a Facebook post.
Asad Chowdhury was a poet, writer, translator, radio and television personality, journalist, and cultural activist in Bangladesh.
He won the Ekushey Padak in 2013 and the Bangla Academy Literary Award in 1987.
Born in 1943, Asad Chowdhury started his career as a lecturer of Bangla language and literature at Brahmanbaria College in 1973.
He also served as director at the Bangla Academy.
He was a life member of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
His notable collections of poems include “Tabak Deya Pan,” “Bitto Nai Besat Nai,” “Ekka Dokka,” “Joler Madhye Lekhajokha,” “Je Pare Paruk,” “Modhya Math Theke,” “Megher Julum Pakhir Julum,” “Nadio Bibastro Hoy,” “Premer Kabita,” “Batash Jemon Parichito,” and “Brishtir Sansare Ami Keo Noi.”
During the Liberation War of Bangladesh, he was a contributor and broadcaster of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra in Kolkata.
He was a correspondent for The Daily Purbodesh from 1968 to 1971.