Abdul Mannan Syed

Syed was born on 3 August 1943 at Basirhat, on the Ichamati River, in 24 Paraganas, in West Bengal of undivided India.[3] In 1946, just before the partition of British Indian, a lethal Hindu-Muslim riot took place and forced many Muslims to leave West Bengal to settle in East Bengal, now Bangladesh. A less discussed but equally fearsome riot took place in 1950 that drove the family of Syed from West Bengal and to settle in Dhaka of then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. He lost his motherland for ever and always felt like a refugee. They first lived in Gopibagh of Dhaka town. Shortly his father bought a piece of land on the Green Road, formerly called Kuli Road. Since then 51 Green Road has been his address until his sudden death in September 2010.

His father Syed A. M. Badruzzdoza was a public official who served in many places of the then East Pakistan. He was very strict about the formal education of his children. He had six sons and four daughters. Syed was married to his cousin Syra Syed Ranu. His only child was a daughter named Jinan Syed Shampa. In 1958, Syed passed the Matriculate examination from the Nawabpur High School. In 1960, he passed the Intermediate from the Dhaka College. He studied Bengali language and literature in the Dhaka University from where he obtained his B. A and M. A. degrees, respectively, in 1963 and 1964. Most of his life he earned his livelihood as a teacher of Bengali language and literature in government colleges. He started his career as a lecturer in the M. C. College of Sylhet town. He also taught in the Sheikh Borhanuddin College in Faridpur. However he served in the Jagannath College for a long time from where he retired in 1998. He also served as the District Gazetteer for a period of time. Later he was appointed the executive director of the Nazrul Institute (2002–2004).

Syed is best known for his research on Bengali poet Jibanananda Das. Although he is most renowned for literary criticism, he is a versatile writer and poet. He taught as a faculty in the department of Bengali in the Jagannath College, Dhaka. Later he served as Director General of the Nazrul Institute. He was the first Scholar-in-residence in Bangladesh at North South University. For a long time he was associated with the Shilpataru, a monthly literary magazine published from Dhaka by poet Abid Azad.

He had been suffering from diabetes and cardiac troubles for a long time. On 27 August 2010, he fell sick while participating in an event of Channel I. On 5 September 2010, he was having an afternoon sleep when he suffered a massive cardiac arrest and succumbed to death just before Iftaar. On the following day he was buried at the Azimpur Graveyaed after three Salatul Janazas at Green Road Jam-e-Masjid, Bangla Academy and Dhaka University mosque. His death was widely mourned across the country. All national dailies carried obituary on the following day. Next Friday, all dailies carried in the literary essays on his life and works. Electronic media also featured his death in a befitting manner.

• Bangla Academy Literary Award (1981)[4]
• Alaol Literary Award (1981)[4]
• Kabi Jasimuddin Award
• Chattagram Sangskriti Kendro Farrukh Memorial Award (1991)

• Chowdhury, Kabir (1997). "Of History, Nationalism and Poetry". India International Centre Quarterly. India International Centre. 24 (2/3): 100–111. JSTOR 23005435.
• "Abdul Mannan Syed dead". The New Nation. BSS. 6 September 2010. Archived from the original on 15 November 2018 – via HighBeam Research.
• Akhter, Shamima (2012). "Syed, Abdul Mannan". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
• "Leading light of literature". The Daily Star. 6 September 2013.
• "Abdul Mannan Syed's 3rd Death Anniversary Observed". Dhaka Courier. 15 September 2013. Archived from the original on 17 November 2018 – via HighBeam Research.
• "Bangla literature through ages". The New Nation. 18 July 2014.
• "Abdul Mannan Syed's 5th death anniversary observed". The Daily Observer. 5 September 2015.
• "Blending Surrealism and Myth: Abdul Mannan Syed's 5th Death Anniv Observed". Dhaka Courier. 10 September 2015. Archived from the original on 10 October 2016. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
• Choudhury, Rabbani (8 January 2016). "Bengali novelists and novels". The New Nation.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Abdul Mannan Syed.

• Three poems by Abdul Mannan Syed in English translation
• An article in Daily Jugantor by Shahabuddin Nagari