Sahityasabha, a literary platform, celebrated the anniversary of the birth of eminent novelists Showkat Ali and Akhtaruzzaman Elias at Sangskriti Bikash Kendra at Paribag in the capital Dhaka on Wednesday.
The event titled ‘Showkat Ali O Akhtaruzzaman Eliaser Kathasahittya: Manusher Sangramer Shilparoop’ analysed their works inspired by the left political ideology and depicted people’s struggles.
Chaired by Sahityasabha president writer-translator professor Khaliquzzaman Elias, the event was attended, among others, by former Jahangirnagar University professor Anu Muhammad, theatre activist Kazi Toufikul Islam Emon, fiction-writer Mashiul Alam and poet Chanchal Ashraf. It was moderated by Nayeema Tasnim.
Writer and literary critic Dhrubo Sadiq delivered the welcome speech at the event which also paid tribute to fiction writer and former Rajshahi University professor the late Hasan Azizul Haque.
Chanchal Ashraf said that both authors portrayed the people’s social and political life which was controlled by the financial system of the state and their central characters fought for their identity, not for ruling power or wealth.
Referring to a play directed by him — ‘Khoabnama’ based on Akhtaruzzaman Elias’s historical novel, theatre troupe Prachyanat founding member Kazi Toufikul Islam Emon said that the play portrayed the community as a central character while the dream of the people was mostly related to achieving basic human needs.
‘The novel narrates the marginal people’s history with myth and folk with magic realism and the characters use Bagura region dialect,’ he said, adding that the novel should be filmed or animation production for its wide canvas.
Mashiul Alam said that Akhtaruzzaman presented himself through class struggle-oriented stories.
Anu Muhammad said that successive governments never thought about the impact of libraries, but libraries could help people read literature.
‘We need to translate our literature for our youth who do not know Bengali well and for global readers. Akhtaruzzaman works could be film productions also,’ he said, adding that the diverse relationship between the exploited and the ruler were depicted in Akhtaruzzaman works.
Khaliquzzaman Elias said that both writers took literature as pursuit.
‘Akhtaruzzaman wrote elaborately,’ he said, adding that great literature helped bring changes in society and politics.
Showkat Ali was born on February 12, 1936 and passed away on January 25, 2018. Akhtaruzzaman Elias was born on February 12, 1943 and passed away on January 4, 1997.
