Veteran Educationist Syed Manzoorul Islam passes away

Syed Manzoorul Islam, Emeritus Professor of the English Department at Dhaka University, renowned novelist, and essayist, passed away on Friday at 5 pm at LabAid Hospital in Dhaka.

Mazharul Islam, CEO of OnnoProkash, who had been monitoring his treatment, confirmed the news to the media.

Syed Manzoorul, had been hospitalized since October 3 after suffering a heart attack. His condition became critical on Sunday evening, prompting doctors to place him on ventilator support. Earlier, on Tuesday, Bangla Academy director and poet Kazi Sorkar Amin had reported that he was able to breathe normally without assistance.

Following his hospital admission, doctors performed various tests and inserted two stents in his heart that very night.

Born on January 18, 1951, in Sylhet, Manzoorul is the son of Syed Amirul Islam and Rabeya Khatun. He completed his Secondary School Certificate from Sylhet Government Pilot High School in 1966 and his Higher Secondary Certificate from MC College, Sylhet, before earning a BA and MA in English from Dhaka University. He obtained his PhD in 1981 from Queen’s University in Canada, focusing on the influence of Emanuel Swedenborg’s philosophy on WB Yeats’s poetry.

A retired professor of the Department of English at Dhaka University, he later joined the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB). Among his notable works are Thaka Na Thakar Golpo, Kach Vanga Rater Golpo, Andhakar o Alo Dekhar Golpo, Adhkhana Manushyo, Dinratriguli, Ajgubi Rat, Tin Porber Jibon, and Nandantattwa.

Manzoorul was honored with the Bangla Academy Literary Award in 1996 and the Ekushey Padak in 2018 for his significant contributions to literature.