Mohammad Nurul Huda (born 30 September 1949) is a Bangladeshi poet and novelist.[1] Currently Huda is serving as the Director General of Bangla Academy from 12 July 2021.He has written more than fifty poetry books.[citation needed] He was awarded the Ekushey Padak in 2015.[2] Huda was born to Mohammad Sekander and Anjuman Ara Begum in Poak Khali of Cox's Bazar district, Bangladesh on 30 September 1949.
After high school, he studied English Literature at the University of Dhaka and obtained his B. A. with Honors in 1970 and M. A. in 1972. He participated in training courses at the East West Centre, Hawaii. After graduation he taught English in a colleges for about five years and then at the Dhaka University for a brief period. His literary career commenced early and he emerged in the 1960s as a modern poet.
In 2007, after 34 years of service Huda retired as Director of Bangla Academy, Dhaka. Till date he works as the executive editor of the Bangla Academy Journal. At Bangla Academy, he worked as the Project Director at Young Writers' Project. He also served as the Executive Director of the Nazrul Institute, Dhaka. He was a Consultant of WIPO, Geneva. He is the Departmental Head of English Department in European University of Bangladesh, Dhaka. Also, he contributes a regular column entitled Sadakotha (tr. Plain Tales) on social, political and cultural aspects of contemporary Bangladesh. He is the President of the Bangladesh Writers' Club. The Government of Bangladesh appointed him as the Director General of Bangla Academy on 12 July 2021.
Huda is best known as a poet, although he also writes prolifically in several forms. He is particularly acclaimed as jatisattar kobi meaning 'the poet of national identity'. A versatile writer, he is also widely known as an essayist, literary critic, translator, folklorist and intellectual property rights specialist for copyright and traditional cultural expressions.
Huda in 2007
Huda has translated the poems of the Turkish poet Yunus Emre's poems, in collaboration with Arshaduzzaman, and also translated Nazrul's famous poems entitled 'Kemal Pasha' and 'Wardrum' into English. He was decorated with state honour as an outstanding personality contributing to the promotion of Turkish-Bangladesh relations by Süleyman Demirel, the President of Turkey, during his Bangladesh visit marking the silver jubilee celebration of independence of Bangladesh on 25 March 1997.
Huda with Nepali poet Suman Pokhrel and Bangladeshi poet Rahima Afrooz Munni during SAARC Festival of Literature - 2015 in Agra, India
Flaming Flowers : Poets' Response to the Emergence of Bangladesh (1994) essay,
Rabinroprokriti O Onyanya Probandha (1988) Essays on literature and aesthetics,
Sartre O Onyanya Prosongo (1993) literary essays,
Praner Minar Shahid Minar (1994) prose description for juvenile,
Srishtishilota O Onnanya (1999) essays,
Nazrul's Aesthetics and Other Aspects (2001) essays,
Nandonik Nazrul (2001) essays on Nazrul,
Monpoboner Nao (2005) travelogue,
Identification, Valuation and Intellectual Property Protection of Traditional Cultural Expressions of Bangladesh ( A draft report of about 500 pages submitted to WIPO, Genva in January 2005),
Methodology : Valuation of Identified TECs of Bangladesh. Trial pint 2006, Lokbangla, Dhaka.
Fiction, travelogue and prose
Mohanobi (1983) biography for children,
Jonmajati (1994) novel based on history and legends,
Bastuhara (1994) a novel based on Flannery O'Connor's story,
Moinpahar (1995) a novel based reality and legends,
Chotoder Nazrul Jibani (2001) biography for children,
Chotoder Rabindra Jibani (2001) biography for children,
Chotoder Begum Rokya (2001) biography for children,
Chotoder Jibanananda Das (2001) biography for children,
Chotoder Michael Madhusudan Datta (2001) biography for children,
Monpoboner Nao (2005) travelogue
Translation
Poribortaner Pothe (1972) essay,
Agamemnon (1987) drama,
In Blissful Hell (1993) novel,
Flannery O'Connorer Golpo (1997) stories,
Romeo Juliet (1998) Shakespeare's story retold,
Neel Somudrer Jhor (1998) Shakespeare's story retold,
Wedding and Wild Kite (2001),
Hason Raja (Subtitles of a film, 2001).
Books edited and compiled
Kobi Madhusudhan (1984) editor, collection of essays,
Kovita 1390 (1984) editor, collection of poetry,
Shahid Buddhijibi Sharane Kobitaguccha (1984) editor, collection of poetry,
Humayun Kabir Racanabali (1984) editor, collected works of Humayun Kabir,
Kobita 1391 (1985) editor, collection of poetry,
Abul Hasaner Ogronthito Kobita (1986) one of the three editors of Abul Hasan's poetry collection,
Bangladesher Nirbacita Kobita (1988) editor, Selected Poems from Bangladesh,
Homoeopathy Paribhasha (1989) one of the two compilers,
Kobita : GonoAndolan (1991) editor, collection of poetry,
Tales to Tell (1991) editor and compiler of a supplementary Reader in English for secondary level,
Stories for the Young (1991) editor and compiler of a supplementary Reader in English for secondary level,
Bangla Academy English-Bengali Dictionary (1993) a compiler,
Shotabdir Sreshtho Premer Pongkti (1995) editor, best love poems of the century,
Songkhipto Bangla Obhidhan (1995), a compiler of this dictionary,
Huda has been working on matters relating to intellectual property since last few years. On 12 December 2007 he presented a seminal work at the Top Level Forum on Intellectual Property organised by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO/OMPI), held in Geneva, Switzerland. The main focus of his paper was Traditional Knowledge (TK) and Traditional Cultural Expressions (TCE). He presented an estimation of the value of yearly transaction TCE in Bangladesh.
