Ramapada Chowdhury


Ramapada Chowdhury was an Indian novelist and short story writer in Bengali. For his novel Bari Badle Jay, he received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1988. He was also a recipient of the Rabindra Puraskar and several other awards. He won the Rabindranath Tagore Memorial International Prize in its inaugural year. Many of his works have been adapted into films, including the multiple-award-winning Kharij, directed by Mrinal Sen, and Ek Doctor Ki Maut, directed by Tapan Sinha. Chowdhury started writing during the Second World War. He was associated with Anandabazar Patrika for many years, and edited its Sunday supplement. His novels are marked by an economy of expression. He is one of the most well known short story writers in contemporary Bengali literature.

Early life

Ramapada Chowdhury was born on 28 December 1922 in Kharagpur, West Bengal, British India. He completed his schooling from Kharagpur. Subsequently, he studied at Presidency College, Calcutta, and obtained his master's degree in English Literature from the University of Calcutta.

Career

Chowdhury wrote his first short story as a student, in response to a challenge from his friends. After completing his Master's, he got a job with Anandabazar Patrika. Later he became Associate Editor of the newspaper, and edited its Sunday supplement Rabibasariya for many years.
Chowdhury started writing short stories on a regular basis from the age of twenty-five. He published two collections of stories before the publication of his first novel Pratham Prahar. Although an established writer in the 1950s, Chowdhury received wider recognition with his 1960 novel Banpalashir Padabali, which appeared in serial form in the well-known literary magazine Desh. He was awarded the Rabindra Puraskar in 1971 for his novel Ekhoni and the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1988 for Bari Badle Jay. In all, he has written around fifty novels and over one hundred short stories. He has also edited an anthology of stories originally published in Desh.
In 2011, the Indian Institute of Planning and Management instituted the Rabindranath Tagore Memorial International Prize. Ramapada Chowdhury won the award in its inaugural year, for his novel Banpalashir Padabali. According to writer and scholar Surajit Dasgupta, "Banpalashir Padabali is a stunningly vibrant and intensely human work that serves to reaffirm his reputation as a master story-teller in the Bengali language."
The Sahitya Akademi, in its series of films on eminent Indian writers, has produced a film on Ramapada Chowdhury, directed by Raja Mitra.

List of works (selected)