Shamsuzzaman Khan


Shamsuzzaman Khan is a Bangladeshi academician, folklorist and writer and a former director general of Bangla Academy during 2009-2018. He is notable for editing book series on folk culture of 64 different districts in 64 volumes and collections of folklore series in 114 volumes. He was awarded Bangla Academy Literary Award in 2001, Ekushey Padak in 2009 and Independence Day Award in 2017 by the Government of Bangladesh.

Early life

Khan's father M.R Khan was a translator at the government house of Calcutta. His great grand father Elhadad Khan and his brother Ada la t Khan were highly accaclaimed intellectuals of colonial India. Shamsuzzaman's father died when he was only two. He was brought up by his mother and maternal grandmother.
Khan completed his honours and master's degrees from Dhaka University in 1963 and1964 respectively and joined Munshiganj Haraganga College As a lecturer in the department of Bangla in 1964. In the same Year he joined Jagannath College as an assistant Professor.

Career

Khan started his teaching career at Haraganga College. Khan was a faculty member of Jagannath College, Bangladesh Agricultural University and National University of Bangladesh.
On 24 May 2009, Khan became the director general of Bangla Academy. His contract for the position was extended three times until 23 May 2018. He also served as the director general of the Bangladesh National Museum and Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. On 1 October 2018 Shamsuzzaman Khan was appointed as 'Bangabandhu Chair' Professor at Islamic University, Bangladesh in Kushtia.
According to Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, "the critical judgment, historical insights and remarkable scholarship that Shamsuzzaman brings to his analyses and writings are altogether exceptional".

Criticism

Khan was criticized and condemned severely since he allowed different organizations to arrange events in the English language in the premise of Bangla Academy in his tenure.

Awards

Khan wrote more than seventy books on topics ranging from serious literary articles and folklore to children's literature.