
Today is the 82nd anniversary of the birth of poet Shahid Qadri.
Born on August 14, 1942 in Kolkata in British India, Shahid Qadri brought a new dimension to Bangla poems by introducing urbanism and a sense of modernity.
Qadri’s debut collection of poems ‘Uttaradhikar’ was published in 1967. His two collections of poems ‘Tomake Abhibadan Priyatama’ and ‘Kothao Kono Krandan Nei’ — published in the ’70s — earned him widely acclaim.
After ‘Kothao Kono Krondon Nei’, Qadri stopped writing and moved first to London and then to Germany. Later, he moved to the Boston in the United States in the mid-80s.
Although he wrote only four collections of poems, a few poet can be said to have concomitantly maintained the excellence of linguistic and poetical aesthetics like Qadri. His poems appeal to the people from all walks of life for distinctive tone, use of alliteration, diverse images and the brilliant use of similes.
He resumed writing poems after the death of his second wife Dana Qadri in ’90s and published his fourth collection of poems ‘Amar Chumbangulo Pouchhe Dao’ in 2009.
The poet received Bangla Academy Award in 1973 and Ekushey Padak in 2011.
Shahid Qadri passed way at a New York hospital in the United States in 2016.