| Noorjahan Bose | |
|---|---|
| নুরজাহান বোস | |
 | |
| Born | (1938-03-14) 14 March 1938 (age 86) Kantakhali, Boro Baishdia, Galachipa, Patuakhali, Bengal Presidency, British India |
| Nationality | Bangladeshi |
| Spouse(s) | Emadullah Swadesh Bose (m. 1963; died 2009) |
| Awards | Anannya Top Ten Awards (2005) |
Noorjahan Bose (born 14 March 1938) is a Bangladeshi writer and women's rights activist. She won Bangla Academy Literary Award in the autobiography category in 2016. She founded Asha and Samhati – nonprofit organizations focusing on women's empowerment.
Background and family
Bose was born in Katakhali village at Boro Baishdia, an island in the Bay of Bengal, 14 March 1938. She went to Barisal to finish her matriculation exam. At 17, she married Emadullah, the general secretary of East Pakistan Jubo League. Emadullah died from smallpox in a year while she was pregnant. After the birth of her first child, Jaseem, she took a job as a dorm warden at Shadar Girls School, from which she had graduated.
In 1963, she married her late husband's closest friend, Swadesh Bose. The couple and Jaseem went to Cambridge, England as Swadesh was awarded scholarship for his Ph.D. at Cambridge University. In 1967 they moved to Karachi. Noorjahan gave birth to a daughter Monica in Cambridge, and a second daughter, Anita, in Karachi. The family moved to Dhaka in early 1971, just before the start of the liberation war.
In 1974, the family moved to Oxford, England and from there to the Washington, United States where Swadesh got a job with the World Bank. Noorjahan completed her master's degree in social work and began her career as a social worker with a Catholic Charities Refugee Program.
In 1984, Noorjahan Bose founded Samhati.
Awards
- Anannya Top Ten Awards (2005)
- Ananya Literature Award (2010)
- Bangla Academy Literary Award (2016)
Works
- Agunmukhar Meye, Sahitya, Dhaka, 2009
- Bose, Noorjahan (2023-08-03). Daughter of the Agunmukha. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1-80526-060-8.
References
- Monu, Dil (8 March 2017). আগুনমুখার মেয়ের কথা [Words of the girl from Agunmukha]. bdnews24.com (opinion) (in Bengali). Retrieved 26 August 2017.
- "Bangla Academy Sahitya Puroshkar 2016 announced". The Daily Star. 23 January 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
- ^ Munim, Rifat (4 March 2011). "Beyond the Doll's House". The Daily Star. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
- "Swadesh Bose passes away". The Daily Star. 3 December 2009. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
- "Storytelling with Saris". storytellingwithsaris.com. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
- "Ten women receive Anannya award". The Daily Star. 3 March 2006. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
