Poet Jewel Mazhar and fiction writer Abdul Mannan Sarker have won the Jibananda Award 2019 for their outstanding creative works. Jointly founded by Dhansiri Sahitya Saikat and Durbar, this year’s award was announced on February 18, on the eve of Jibanananda Das’s birth anniversary.
The winners each will officially receive ten thousand takas and an honorary certificate. The award-giving ceremony will be held on October 22 (Das’s death anniversary) in Barisal, Das’s ancestral city.
Presided over by poet Asad Chowdhury, the final meeting of the jury board was held recently. The Vice Principal of Rabindra University professor Biswajit Ghosh, Dhansiri Editor Muhammad Muhsin, Durbar Assistant Editor Sarfuddin Ahmed and poet Shamim Reza were present at that meeting.
Journalist by profession, poet Jewel Mazhar was born in 1962, in Kendua Upazila of Netrokona. He has contributed in Bengali poetry with his reputable collections like Darji Ghare Ekrat, Megastheneser Hasi and Diwana Jikir.
Fiction writer Abdul Mannan Sarker is a professor. He was born in 1952 in Bera Upazila of Pabna District. His acclaimed novels include Pathar, Jatrakal, Krisnopokkho, Noyabosot, Pitipurus, Arshinogor and Niraker Kal. Dui Digonter Jatri is his short story collection.
From its foundation in 2007, this award has been received by Masud Khan and Mohibul Aziz (2016), poet Khaled Hossain and fiction writer Imtiar Shamim (2014), poet Khondoker Ashraf Hossain and essayist Shantonu Kaiser (2013), poet Kamal Chowdhury and fiction writer Shushanta Majumder (2008) and poet Asad Mannan and fiction writer Salma Bani (2007).
