Afghan author Khaled Hosseini gets Surama Chowdhury Memorial International Award

 

 

Eminent author of Afghanistan Janab Khaled Hosseini has been named as the recipient of the prestigious Surama Chowdhury Memorial International Award in Literature for his extraordinary novel - “A Thousand Splendid Suns”. The award consists of an honorarium of $100,000, a gold medallion and citation. The award was announced on behalf of the Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM) by most respected author, Surojit Dasgupta at an eminent gathering held to honour and award acclaimed journalists and littérateurs. The award will be handed over to Hosseini at a ceremony to be held on August 30, 2011.

IIPM has been recognizing people in the fields of Literature, Journalism and Social Service with several awards like Surama Chowdhury Memorial Award, Rabindra Smriti Puraskar, Manavata Vikas Award, et al. This year, at the abovementioned gathering, IIPM conferred the Barun Sengupta Memorial Award in Journalism, Rabindranath Tagore Peace Award, Gour Kishore Ghosh Memorial Award in Literature and other Special Awards of Excellence. Editor of Dainik Statesman Manas Ghosh and former bureaucrat-turned eminent columnist Debabrata Bandopadhyay were honoured with the Barun Sengupta Memorial Award in Journalism. The Gour Kishore Ghosh Memorial Award in Literature went to celebrated Bangladeshi poet and author, Nirmalendu Gun. Manipuri crusader Irom Chanu Sharmila, fasting for more than a decade demanding withdrawal of the repressive Armed Forces Special Power Act, was conferred with the prestigious Rabindranath Tagore Peace Award, which will be handed over to this ‘lady under house arrest’ on a later date. Special Awards under other categories went to Nurul Islam of Al-Ameen Mission, educationist Rabiranjan Chattopadhyay, columnist Pulak Narain Dhar, Swami Haripadananda of Bharat Sevashram Sangha, cardiologist Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty and drama director Kaushik Sen.

Renowned author Syed Mustafa Siraj chaired the ceremony, and distinguished novelist Atin Bandopadhyay graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. The galaxy of other participants included painter Shuvaprasanna Bhattacharya, illustrious educationist Sunanda Sanyal, prominent Gandhi-researcher Sayed Abul Maqsud (from Bangladesh) and noted poet Pankaj Saha. Visionary and the Founder Director of IIPM, Dr M K Chaudhuri, said, “The award has been named after my mother, who helped me to read, understand and appreciate literature in all forms. She, as the Founder President of IIPM, ensured that all our students get an opportunity to appreciate literature and culture. She believed in ‘tyaga’ for noble cause.” Enthused by Dr. Chowdhury’s words, one of the awardees, Nirmalendu Gun announced, “I will donate the entire award money to a school library set up by my grandfather more than a century back.” Interestingly, two years back too Nirmalendu had donated another award money of Taka 2,00,000.