Shaheen Akhtar


Shaheen Akhtar is a Bangladeshi writer.

Biography

She was born in Cumilla and studied economics at University of Dhaka. She next studied and worked at film-making in India, returning to Bangladesh in 1991. She used to write short stories when she was younger.
Her first novel was Palabar Path Nei, a story that explored the life of two single women in Dhaka. Shaheen’s second novel Talaash won the Prothom Alo Best Book of the Year Award for 2004. For this novel She also won the 3rd Asian Literary Award-2020, a major prize in South Korea, Talaash, translated into Korean by Seung Hee Jeon. Talaash is about birangana of Bangladesh - women who were raped during the liberation war in 1971.
Her short stories have been published in Words without Border and other prestigious literary magazines. Shaheen’s works have been translated into English, German, and Korean.
She works as an editor in the Media and Communication Unit of Ain o Salish Kendra, a civil rights organization in Dhaka.

Selected works

Source:
  • Talaash, novel, translated into English in 2011
  • Shokhi Rongomala, novel, translated into English in 2018
  • Moyur Shinghashon, novel
  • Ashukhi din, novel
  • Boner Shange Amarloke, short stories
  • Poneroti Golpo, short stories
  • Shish o Onnyanno Golpo, short stories
  • Soti O Swotontora: Bangla Shahitye Nari, editor
  • Zenana Mehfil: Bangali Musalman Lekhikader Nirbachita Rachana, 1904-1938, editor with Mousumi Bhowmik

Awards