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Published : 25 Jan 2025, 08:59 PM
The "Bangla Academy Literary Award 2024", which was announced only two days ago, has been suspended following “some complaints” about certain nominees.
The awarding body decided to review the list and republish it within three working days.
This decision was made during a meeting of the Bangla Academy Literary Award Committee 2024 on Saturday evening.
The academy’s public relations department later confirmed the suspension in a statement.
"Due to the emerging social-political situation and complaints regarding some of the nominees, it was discussed that the 'Bangla Academy Literary Award 2024' should be reconsidered," it read.
The Bangla Academy confirmed that an inquiry would be conducted into the raised objections.
The previously announced list of the awardees was made public on Thursday.
It included playwright Syed Jamil Ahmed, essayist Salimullah Khan, and eight others as recipients of the Bangla Academy Literary Award.
Cultural Affairs Advisor Mostofa Sarwar Farooki criticised the list for not including any female writers, calling the omission "surprising" in a Facebook post on Friday.
He also suggested that it was time to reform the nomination process.
The absence of female names led to further criticism on social media.
The awardees announced were: Masud Khan for poetry, Selim Morshed for fiction, Shubhashish Sinha for drama and playwriting, Salimullah for essays, Faruk Nawaz for children’s literature, GH Habib for translation, Mohammad Shahjahan Mia for research, Rezaur Rahman for science, and Mohammad Hannan for the Liberation War.
The award was scheduled to be formally presented by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus at the inauguration of the Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2025 on Feb 1.
According to the Bangla Academy website, the purpose of this award is to "create a conducive environment for education and culture by recognising the creative genius of contemporary living writers of the Bengali language and literature through identifying their overall original contributions."
