Anisuzzaman


Anisuzzaman was a Bangladeshi academic of Bengali literature.
He was an activist who took part in the Language Movement, participated in Mass Uprising, and took part in the War of Liberation.
He was a member of the Planning Commission to the Government of Bangladesh during the Bangladesh liberation war and a member of the National Education Commission set up by the government after liberation. He was inducted as a National Professor by the Government of Bangladesh in 2018.

Early life and education

Anisuzzaman was born in Calcutta in 1937. Along with his family, he moved to Khulna after the 1947 partition. After about a year they moved to Dhaka. His father ATM Moazzem was a homeopathy practitioner and his grandfather, Sheikh Abdur Rahim, was a journalist and writer. His first piece of writing, a story, was published in Nowbahar, a literary magazine, in 1950. He completed his HSC from Jagannath College. He obtained his bachelor's in 1956 and master's in 1957 in Bengali from the University of Dhaka. At the university, he worked with Muhammad Shahidullah, Muhammad Abdul Hye and Munier Chowdhury. He completed his Ph.D. in 1962 at the age of 25 from the same university. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Chicago during 1964–65 and a Commonwealth Academic Staff fellow at the University of London.

Career

Anisuzzaman served as a faculty member at the University of Dhaka during 1959–69, 1985–2003 and 2005–08. He taught Bengali at the University of Chittagong during 1969–85. From 1978 to 1983, he was associated with research projects of the United Nations University. He was a visiting fellow at the University of Paris, North Carolina State University and University of Calcutta, and a visiting professor at the Visva-Bharati.
Anisuzzaman was a member of the Planning Commission to the Government of Bangladesh during the Bangladesh liberation war and a member of the National Education Commission set up by the government after liberation. He was responsible for the Bengali language part of the Constitution of Bangladesh adopted on November 1972. He served as Chairman of the Trustee Board of the Nazrul Institute and has been the president of the Bangla Academy since 2011.

Activism

Anisuzzaman took part in the Language Movement, participated in Mass Uprising, took part in the War of Liberation and was the secretary of the Bangladesh Teachers' Association in 1971. He was involved in the anti-autocracy movement.
In 2015, Anisuzzaman received death threats from Islamic extremists.

Literary works

Awards

Anisuzzaman was married to Siddiqua Zaman. He was an secular humanist, having lost faith in organised religion during his youth.

Death

Anisuzzaman died on May 14, 2020 from multi organ failure at Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka. He was admitted to Universal Medical College Hospital after falling sick about three weeks prior to his death. Later he was shifted to CMH as his condition was not improving. Sample was collected for Covid-19 test after his death and it came positive. He was buried at Azimpur Graveyard in Dhaka in line with the guidelines for the burial of Covid-19 patients.