A poet, a writer lives both at home and away from home. Actually, he lives inside his mind. It is from this multidimensional abode that he observes life and the visible world all around. When a poet has to change where he lives, he experiences simultaneously an echoing cry for roots left behind and a feeling of indifference because nothing looks new. These internal experiences make him still and restless. It is true that these seemingly contradictory thoughts stir the mind of a person, but it is very difficult to bind the thoughts together into sensible words and sentences. I feel certain that the wound of emotion is much more severe than the wound of the body. As far as I know, all humans are just refugees, and every part of the world is every person’s country. For that reason, even when the scenery changes, I can still find my familiar sky, my familiar weather, my familiar scents. Yes, these differences in emotions affect how I think about writing. These days, there is no denying that my constant companions are the suddenly changed world around me, my physical-mental suffering, and the trauma of instability and uncertainty. Maybe one day I will be able to control this crazy trauma. Then the thoughts swirling in this paradox will become poetry, the wings will be written page by page. Then maybe in this lifetime, I will go somewhere else yet again. Then the mind will cry out for this ice, for this amazing snowfall, for the water of the river that has frozen in this extreme cold.
Ahmedur Chowdhury, known as Tutul, is a publisher, writer, and editor from Bangladesh. In 1990, Chowdhury began publishing and editing Shuddhashar FreeVoice, a magazine that soon became a platform for young and unconventional writers in Bangladesh. Chowdhury opened his own publishing house in Dhaka in 2004 under the same name, where he primarily printed works of progressive Bangladeshi writers. In 2013, the publishing house was awarded the Shaheed Munir Chowdhury Award for publishing the highest number of quality books in Bangladesh and is considered one of the most important publishing houses in the country. In October 2015, Chowdhury was a victim of a coordinated machete attack on publishers of secular authors. Chowdhury had received direct death threats from Islamists and was among the main targets of the attack. Despite these threats, Chowdhury continued to publish, including books written by Avijit Roy, who was murdered in February 2015. Chowdhury currently lives in exile in Norway, where he restarted Shuddhashar FreeVoice as an online platform and non-profit organization. Shuddhashar FreeVoice’s flagship publication is its quarterly theme-based magazine, which focuses on critical contemporary issues and includes articles written by international scholars and writers. In 2022, Chowdhury returned to book publishing with new e-books and print books, including two books translated into Norwegian. He has been an invited guest speaker at several programs and universities, including the Oslo Freedom Forum in Oslo, Norway; the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva; Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala; Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina; Augsburg University in Minneapolis; and the University of Oslo. He has been a participant in the Salzburg Global Seminar and the PEN Belgium´s writers fellowship program. Chowdhury’s work and courage have been honored with several awards and recognitions, including Norwegian PEN´s Ossietzky Prize (2018), Prix Voltaire Shortlist Nominee (2018), International Freedom to Publish Award Finalist (2016), American Publishers Association’s Jeri Labor International Freedom to Publish Award (2016), and English PEN Pinter International Writer of Courage Award (2016).
In conversation with Ahmedur Chowdhury Tutul
Ahmedur Rashid Chowdhury Tutul started the little magazine Shuddhasharin 1990. Fourteen years later, it grew into Shuddhashar, the publishing house, known for bringing about a new wave in the Bangladeshi publishing…
লিটল আকারের সংকলন মাত্রই লিটল ম্যাগাজিন হতে পারে না
আমি পিছু হটব না : আহমেদুর রশীদ চৌধুরী
আহত প্রকাশক আহমেদুর রশীদের সাক্ষাৎকার : ‘হেমন্তের রাতে/ কয়েক হাত দূরে/ মর্গে দীপন/ জরুরি ওয়ার্ডের স্বর্গে আমরা তিনজন।’ গতকাল ঢাকা মেডিকেল কলেজ হাসপাতালে শুয়ে স্ত্রীর সাহায্যে এই পঙ্ক্তিগুলো লিখেছেন আহমেদুর…
A publisher’s disclaimer about LGBTIQ+ solidarity
Some subjects are very difficult to write about. There are so many scattered events, contexts, and emotions that it is difficult to know exactly how to start. This is what…
The Evening of 26 February 2015
The annual book fair, or the Ekushey Boi Mela, takes place every February in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and it was one of the biggest events of my life from 2004 to…
লিটল ম্যাগাজিন আন্দোলন: সক্ষমতা-অক্ষমতার দ্বন্দ্ব
আঠারো শতকের শেষ থেকে আমেরিকা ও ইউরোপে প্রতীষ্টান বিরোধী ও সাহিত্য-শিল্পে বিদ্রোহ, অস্বীকার ও প্রথা ভাঙার আকাঙ্খা সম্বলিত লেখা ও আঁকা প্রকাশের যে মাধ্যমটি গড়ে উঠেছে, আমরা লিটল ম্যাগাজিনের আদি…
Speech at Oslo Freedom Forum 2017
Speech at Skien bibliotek
Esteemed ladies and gentlemen, good evening. Please accept my warmest wishes, love, and gratitude. I fondly remember Bangladesh at this time. The emotions that are inspired by the colours of…
It’s an example post title in English
NIL BISHE SISH KATE THOT” (Whistling through Blue Poison), a poetry book of 52 pages, written by Ahmedur Rashid , published in1995, by AGAMI PROKASHONI, Dhaka.
পথ
আকাশটা আজ আষাঢ়ের বউ হয়ে পাছা দোলাচ্ছে। মেঘের ঘাগরা পরা আকাশের কারণে সোয়েটার পরার মতো ঠান্ডা বাতাস ঘর ছেড়ে বেরুতে সায় দেয় না। এমন বিষণ্ণ, মনে না ধরা দিনেও আমাকে…
আন্তঃআভ্যন্তরীণ রোদ জল
শরতের তাঁতানো রোদের আড়ালে আর্টস বিল্ডিং-এর পাশের টিলার মতো উঁচু জায়গাটার ঢালে একটা বয়সী জারুল গাছের নিচে গোল হয়ে- ঠিক গোল নয় একদিক কমলালেবুর মতো আর অন্যদিক ডিমের একটু চোখা…
It’s an example post title in English
NIL BISHE SISH KATE THOT” (Whistling through Blue Poison), a poetry book of 52 pages, written by Ahmedur Rashid , published in1995, by AGAMI PROKASHONI, Dhaka.
Who Is Killing Bangladesh’s Bloggers?
Littfest Bergen 2019; Poetical punk gala