The Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy honoured nine little magazines with ‘Little Magazine Sammanona 2024’ and inaugurated a seven-day little magazine exhibition at a ceremony at its national art gallery auditorium on Wednesday.
Three little magazine editors – Mofidul Haq for Ganasahitya, Abdul Kashem Fazlul Haq for Lokayata, and late Mizanur Rahman for Mizanur Rahmaner Traimasik Patrika – were recognised for their contributions to the practice of little magazines following the War of Independence.
Six other magazines – Charjapod edited by Azad Noman, Lok edited by Aniket Shamim, Ghunghur edited by Humayun Kabir, Jolodhi edited by Nahida Ashrafi, Bunon edited by Khaled ud-deen, and HaorKantho edited by Ahmed Manjurul Haque Chowdhury – received awards at the event.
Each magazine was awarded crest, certificate, and cash Tk 50,000.
The event also featured a cultural show.
Writer-translator and editor of the ‘Shilpakala’ Abdus Selim participated as a discussant, while the event was presided over by Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy director general Liaquat Ali Lucky. Secretary of the academy Salahuddin Ahmed delivered the welcome speech.
‘In the development of Bangla literature in Bangladesh, little magazines played a vital role’ said Abdus Selim.
‘I started to publish Shilpakala in 1970, jointly edited by Abdul Mannan Syed, which aimed to publish only articles about literature, art, and performance; because poems and stories were already widely practiced in Bangla. We now feel the lack of good articles in Bangladesh. I began translating many articles about literature, art, and performance into Bengali for little magazines and became a translator,’ he said.
He mentioned that advertising and donations for little magazines also patronised cultural practices as they were not profitable.
‘Little magazines worked against the establishment, creating an intellectual platform to protest the then Pakistani government. The insolence of little magazines created different discourses in society and was practiced all over the country before and after the War of Independence. Now, corruption is pervasive in society, indicating that we have failed to promote our culture and values everywhere. We must work hard on moral and cultural values,’ said Mofidul Haq.
The seven-day exhibition, featuring more than 500 little magazines published across the country, will end on July 16.
