Kazi Nazrul Islam
24 May 1899 - 29 August 1976
Kazi Nazrul Islam was a Bengali poet, writer, and musician who is widely regarded as the national poet of Bangladesh. Born in a poor Muslim family in the village of Churulia in present-day West Bengal, India, Nazrul began writing poetry and songs as a young man, inspired by the works of medieval Bengali mystics and Sufi poets. He was a prolific writer, and his poems and songs covered a wide range of themes, from love and longing to political and social justice. In the 1920s and 1930s, Nazrul became a prominent political activist, using his writing to support the independence movement in India and champion the rights of marginalized communities. He was arrested multiple times by the British colonial government for his political activities, and he spent much of his later life in poor health. Despite this, he continued to write and perform, and he is remembered today as a pioneer of modern Bengali poetry and an icon of Bengali culture.