Rizia Rahman was born on December 28, 1939, and passed away on August 16, 2019. She was a writer from Bangladesh who wrote many novels and short stories. Her work included different types of stories. She is most famous for her novel Bong Theke Bangla. In 1978, she received the Bangla Academy Literary Award. By 2018, she had written more than 50 novels and short story collections throughout her career.

Early life

Rizia Rahman was born on December 28, 1939, in Bhabanipur, Kolkata. After the 1947 Partition of India, her family moved to Bangladesh, which was then called East Bengal. She began writing stories when she was 8 years old and was published for the first time when she was 12 years old. Her stories and poems were printed in newspapers such as Satyajug and Sangbad. Rahman attended the University of Dhaka and earned a Master's degree in Economics.

Career

Rahman published her first collection of short stories, Agni Shakkora, while studying at the University of Dhaka. Her novel Bong Theke Bangla was published in 1978 and received praise from critics for examining the development of Bangladesh's national identity and language. Her fourth novel, Rokter Okkhor, was inspired by an article titled "The Prostitutes of Dhaka" from Bichitra. She could not visit brothels to research the book herself, so she used weekly reports from a male journalist to learn about the living conditions of sex workers. The book caused significant discussion in Bangladesh because of its honest description of prostitution in the country. In a 2016 translation of the book called Letters of Blood, Rahman stated, "I received a lot of praise for the book, but also had to face a lot of criticism and abuse."