Bengali Science Fiction - Science Fiction in Bangladesh

Science Fiction in Bangladesh

After Qazi Abdul Halim's Mohasunner Kanna (Tears of the Cosmos), Humayun Ahmed wrote the first modern Bengali SF novel, Tomader Jonno Valobasa (Love For You All). It was published in 1973. This book is treated as the first full-fledged Bangladeshi science fiction novel. Then he wrote Tara Tinjon (They were Three), Irina, Anonto Nakshatra Bithi (Endless Galaxy), Fiha Somikoron (Fiha Equation) etc.

But Bengali science fiction leaves its cocoon phase holding the hands of Muhammed Zafar Iqbal. Mr. Iqbal wrote a story named Copotronic Sukh Dukho when he was a student of Dhaka University. This story was later included in a compilation of Iqbal's work in a book by the same name. Muktodhara, a famous publishing house of Dhaka was the publisher of this book. This collection of science fiction stories gained huge popularity and the new trend of science fiction emerged among Bengali writers and readers. After his first collection, Mr. Iqbal transformed his own science fiction cartoon strip Mohakashe Mohatrash (Terror in the Cosmos) into a novel. All told, Muhammed Zafar Iqbal has written the greatest number of science fiction works in Bengali science fiction.

Following the footsteps of the ancestors, more and more writers, especially young writers started writing science fiction and a new era started in Bengali literature.

Moulik, the first and longest-running Bangladeshi science fiction magazine, was first published in 1997, with famous cartoonist Ahsan Habib as the editor. This monthly magazine played an important role in the development of Bengali science fiction in Bangladesh. A number of new and very promising science fiction writers including Rabiul Hasan Avi, Anik Khan, Asrar Masud, Sajjad Kabir, Russel Ahmed and Mizanur Rahman Kallol came of age while working with the magazine.