Bangla Academy Literary Award controversy: poet Sajjad Sharif resigns

The poet says he cannot continue serving in the post for moral reasons

Poet Sajjad Sharif has resigned from the executive committee of Bangla Academy amid the controversy over the institution’s Literary Awards.

He had joined the Academy’s newly formed executive council after the Awami League government fell in the face of a mass uprising. He sent his resignation letter to the institution’s director general on Wednesday.

Responding to a question from bdnews24.com on Thursday morning, Sajjad said: “It is not possible for me to serve in this post due to moral reasons as the honour of Bangla Academy as an institution and the posts of the director general and executive council have been undermined. I have tendered my resignation."

After the announcement of the Bangla Academy Literary Award 2024 last Thursday, Cultural Affairs Advisor Mostofa Sarwar Farooki raised questions on social media the following day.

The advisor said it was “surprising" that there were no "female writers" on the list. He also commented that "it is time to reform the nomination process” for the awards.

The next day, Saturday, the Academy decided to suspend the awards.

The advisor announced the suspension of the awards in a Facebook post. A group of netizens later claimed on social media that the advisor had interfered in the suspension of the award.

Some members of the jury members also said they were embarrassed about the decision. One of them, Morshed Shafiul Hasan, announced that he was stepping down from his responsibilities related to the awards on Tuesday night.

The author and researcher said he had completely removed himself from the process out of “self-respect and trust in his own judgment” after reading two consecutive posts by the advisor on social media in this respect.

Regarding the suspension of the award, a press release issued by the Academy said: "Due to the emerging social-political situation and complaints regarding some of the nominees, it was discussed that the 'Bangla Academy Literary Awards 2024' should be reconsidered."

Asked why he thinks Bangla Academy's dignity has been eroded, Sajjad told bdnews24.com: "I have explained the details in my resignation letter. But it would not be appropriate to comment on this in the media."

On Wednesday midnight, the Academy announced a revised list of seven recipients for the award in a press release. The names of Selim Morshed for fiction, Mohammad Hannan for the Liberation War, and Faruk Nawaz for children’s literature were dropped from the list.

According to the new list, the seven recipients of the award are: Masud Khan in poetry, Subhashis Sinha in drama and theatre, Salimullah Khan in essays and prose, GH Habib in translation, Muhammad Shahjahan Mia in research, Rezaur Rahman in science, and Syed Jamil Ahmed in folklore.

Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus is scheduled to present the awards at the inauguration of the Amar Ekushey Book Fair on Feb 1.

Among the three dropped from the list, fiction writer Selim announced the rejection of the “Bangla Academy Literary Award 2024” on Sunday night.

Morshed, a jury member of the award who resigned on Tuesday night, had received the award eight years ago. He said he was now feeling "embarrassed instead of proud" by recent events surrounding the award.

Referring to Farooki's post, Morshed said: "No one thought that the intelligence reports about the authors and their past political identity or activities should be taken into account while naming the recipients of the Bangla Academy award from now on, as was the case with public job appointments during the previous government. Maybe they should have!”