Sunil Gangopadhyay (সুনীল গঙ্গোপাধ্যায়)

Sunil Gangopadhyay or Sunil Ganguly (Bengali: সুনীল গঙ্গোপাধ্যায় Shunil Gônggopaddhae) (7 September 1934 – 23 October 2012)[2] was an Indian Bengali poet and novelist based in the Indian city of Kolkata.[4] Born in Faridpur, in what is now Bangladesh, Gangopadhyay obtained his master's degree in Bengali from the University of Calcutta. In 1953 he and a few of his friends started a Bengali poetry magazine, Krittibas. Later he wrote for many different publications.

Ganguly created the Bengali fictional character Kakababu and wrote a series of novels on this character which became significant in Indian children's literature. He received Sahitya Akademi award in 1985 for his novel Those Days (Sei Samaya).[5] Gangopadhyay used the pen names Nil Lohit, Sanatan Pathak, and Nil Upadhyay.[2]

Early life
He was born in Faridpur into a Bengali Hindu family in what is now Bangladesh. He came to live in Kolkata from his ancestral town at an early age. Later, his ancestral town fell within East Pakistan after the Partition of India in 1947. He studied at the Surendranath College, Dum Dum Motijheel College, City College, Kolkata - all affiliated with the University of Calcutta. Thereafter, he obtained his master's degree in Bengali from the University of Calcutta in 1954.[3]

He married Swati Banerjee on 26 February 1967. Their only son, Souvik, who stays in Boston, was born on 20 November 1967.[3]

Krittibas
Main article: Krittibas (magazine)

Sunil in the Krittibas stall in Nandan
Gangopadhyay was the founder editor of Krittibas, a seminal poetry magazine started publishing from 1953, that became a platform for a new generation of poets experimenting with many new forms in poetic themes, rhythms, and words.[2][6] o

Other works
Later, he started writing for various publications of the Ananda Bazar group, a major publishing house in Kolkata and has been continuing it for many years.[2] He became a friend of the beat poet Allen Ginsberg while he was travelling in India. Ginsberg mentioned Gangopadhyay most notedly in his poem September on Jessore Road. Gangopadhyay in return mentioned Ginsberg in some of his prose work. After serving five years as the Vice President, he was elected the President of the Sahitya Akademi on 20 February 2008[7]

Sunil, along with Tarun Sanyal, Jyotirmoy Datta and Satrajit Dutta had volunteered to be defence witnesses in the famous trial of Hungry generation movement poet Malay Roy Choudhury.[8]

Works

Gangopadhyay in Science City, Kolkata in January 2010
Author of well over 200 books,[2] Sunil was a prolific writer who has excelled in different genres but declares poetry to be his "first love".[6] His Nikhilesh and Neera series of poems (some of which have been translated as For You, Neera and Murmur in the Woods) have been extremely popular.

As in poetry, Sunil was known for his unique style in prose. His second novel was Atmaprakash and it was also the first writing from a new comer in literature published in the prestigious magazine- Desh (1965).[9] It was critically acclaimed but some controversy arose for its aggressive and 'obscene' style. Sunil said that he was afraid of this novel and went away from Calcutta for a few days. Satyajit Ray thought to make a film on it but it wasn't possible for reasons. The central character of 'Atmaprakash' is a young man of core-calcutta'- Sunil, who leads a bohemian life-style. The novel had inspiration from ' On the road' by Jack Kerouac, the beat generation writer. His historical fiction Sei Somoy (translated into English by Aruna Chakravorty as Those Days) received the Indian Sahitya Akademi award in 1985. Sei Somoy continues to be a best seller more than two decade after its first publication.[citation needed] The same is true for Prothom Alo (also translated recently by Aruna Chakravorty as First Light), another best selling historical fiction and Poorba-Pashchim, a raw depiction of the partition and its aftermath seen through the eyes of three generations of Bengalis in West Bengal, Bangladesh and elsewhere. He is also the winner of the Bankim Puraskar (1982), and the Ananda Puraskar (twice, in 1972 and 1989).

Sunil Gangopadhyay giving autographs to his fans in Kolkata Book Fair 2010
Sunil wrote in many other genres including travelogues, children's fiction, short stories, features, and essays. Among his pen-names are: Nil Lohit, Sanatan Pathak, and Nil Upadhyay.[2]

Though he wrote all types of children's fiction, one character created by him that stands out above the rest, was Kakababu, the crippled adventurist, accompanied by his young adult nephew Santu, and his friend Jojo. Since 1974, Sunil Gangopadhyay wrote over 35 novels of this popular series, most of which appeared in Anandamela magazine.