Leading light of literature

Yesterday marked the 3rd death anniversary of veteran poet, essayist and literary critic Abdul Mannan Syed. On the occasion, several cultural and literary organisations arranged discussions and poetry recitation events.
Syed started writing poems in 1960. His first book of poetry was published in 1967. Through a career spanning over five decades, he wrote numerous poems and published over 60 books.
His poems are conceptual and some deal with death, romance and at times the absurd. As an experimental poet, he frequently changed his style and content. He often used the imageries of the moon, sun, sky, clouds and water in his poetry.
He was recognised for his noteworthy research works on Jibanananda Das and Kazi Nazrul Islam. Syed also conducted research on Rabindranath Tagore, Manik Bandopadhyay, Syed Waliullah, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Ishwar Chandra Gupta and other iconic litterateurs.
“Satyer Mato Badmash”, “Janmandho Kobita Guchcho”, “Park Street-e Ek Rattir”, “Kobita Company Private Limited”, “Machh Series”, “Cholo Jai Porokhey”, “Chhondo” and “Rabindranath” are among his notable works.
In his illustrious career, the versatile writer received several honours including the prestigious Bangla Academy Award, Ekushey Padak and Alaol Literary Award for his contribution to Bengali literature.
About Syed, noted poet and literary critic Sinha MA Sayeed said, “Syed was undoubtedly one of the versatile personalities in Bengali literature. He wrote poems, essays, prose, short stories, novels, plays, travelogues and more. He translated and edited many books. His poems are symbolic and surrealistic. He regularly contributed to 'Konthoshor', one of the notable literary journals in the '60s. Professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed edited the journal. He was very close to the late poets Sikdar Aminul Haque, Abul Hasan and Abid Azad.”
Syed was born to Syed AM Badr-ud-Duja and Anwara Majid in 1943 at Bashirhat in Chobbish Pargana, India. He studied at Nawabpur Government High School, Dhaka College and the Bengali Department of Dhaka University. He taught at the department of Bengali, Jagannath College, Dhaka. Later he served as the Director General of Nazrul Institute and was the first scholar-in-residence in Bangladesh at North South University. For a long time he was associated with Shilpataru, a monthly literary magazine published from Dhaka by the late poet Abid Azad.