Writer Sunil Gangopadhyay passes away

Prolific Bengali writer and Sahitya Akademi president Sunil Gangopadhyay passed away on Tuesday morning in his Kolkata residence. He was 78-years-old.

He was unwell for the last couple of days and breathed his last in the wee hours of Navami morning bringing an era of Bengali literature to an end.

According to initial reports by ABP Ananda, he had been unwell since yesterday but his condition but not critical enough to be hospitalised. He suffered a heart attack at around 2.50 in the morning.

With his death, a lot of the Kolkata literati descended on his house. His body has been kept in the mortuary Peace Haven today. He will possibly be cremated tomorrow, after his son arrives from Boston to perform the last rites.

A prolific writer and winner of several awards, Gangopadhyay was the founder editor of Krittibas, a seminal poetry magazine that became a platform for a new generation of poets experimenting with many new forms.

Author of over 200 books, Gangopadhyay excelled in different genres but declared poetry to be his “first love”. His Neera series of poems are popular. Gangopadhyay also excelled in short story, novels, travelogues and children’s fiction.

He had won the Sahitya Akademi Award (1985), Ananda Puraskar (1989) and the Hindu Literary Prize(2011). After serving five years as the Vice President, he was elected the President of the Sahitya Akademi on February 20, 2008.

He used the pen-names of Nil Lohit, Sanatan Pathak and Nil Upadhyay.

On hearing the news of Gangopadhyay’s death, several writers, including Nabaneeta Dev Sen, rushed to his house in the morning. Eminent writers, including Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Samaresh Majumdar, Nirendranath Chakrabarty and Abul Bashar mourned his death.

Condoling his death, Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay said, “It will be extremely difficult to fill the vacuum in Bengali literature after his death as Sunil had heralded a new style in Bengali literature.”

“Bengali literature has lost its guardian,” writer Samaresh Majumdar said. Recalling his long association with Gangopadhyay, veteran poet Nirendranath Chakrabarty said though he was senior to Sunil by ten years in age, he had high respect for his style of writing.

“I saw a sapling when Sunil started writing and keenly observed how it grew into a big tree with thousands of branches”, Chakrabarty observed. Abul Bashar said Gangopadhyay was inimitable in all respects. “We had entered the world of poetry with his guidance”.

With inputs from PTI