Bengali Science Fiction - Writers From West Bengal

Writers From West Bengal

A number of writers from West Bengal, India have written science fiction, as well. But almost all of the writers of West Bengal (excepting Premendra Mitra) actually wrote science fantasy rather than science fiction.

Adrish Bardhan is one of the most notable names among West Bengal's sci-fi writers. Under the pen name of Akash Sen, Bardhan was also the editor of Ashchorjo, the first Bengali science fiction magazine. After a six year run, this magazine ceased publishing. Later, Mr. Bardhan became editor of the magazine Fantastic, but it did not last long. Another Sci-Fi magazine, Vismoy Science Fiction, was edited by Sujit Dhar and Ranen Ghosh but was only published for two years.

A short story known as The Alien written by Satyajit Ray about an alien named "Mr. Ang" gained popularity among Bengalis in the early 1960s. Ray is attributed with virtually pioneering the genre of Indian Science Fiction. It is alleged that the script for Steven Spielberg’s film E.T. was based on a script for The Alien that Ray had sent to the film's producers in the late 1960s.

Other notable science fiction writers of West Bengal include: Lila Majumdar, Sunil Ganguly, Shirshendu Mukherjee, Said Mustafa Siraj, Samarjit Kar, Anish Deb, Siddhartha Ghosh and Abhijnan Roychowdhury.