Daud Haider
Daud Haider | |
|---|---|
দাউদ হায়দার | |
 Haider in Frankfurt (2007) | |
| Born | 21 February 1952 |
| Died | 26 April 2025 (aged 73) Berlin, Germany |
| Occupations | Writer, poet |
| Relatives |
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Daud Haider (21 February 1952 – 26 April 2025) was a Bangladeshi[1] poet who was forced into exile after writing a poem that "insulted" religions, including Islam.[2] American Center, PEN International have described him as a "distinguished poet".[3][4]
Early life
[edit]Daud Haider was born on 21 February 1952 at Doharpara of Pabna District in the then East Bengal, Dominion of Pakistan.[5] He was the eighth child of fourteen siblings.[6] His six brothers were Zia Haider, Makid Haider, Rashid Haider, Zahid Haider, Abid Haider and Arif Haider.[6] Daud was a student at the Department of Bangla of the University of Dhaka.[5]
Career
[edit]Haider's poetic style has been described as more focused on "feeling of the masses".[7] He was the literary editor of The Sangbad based in Dhaka. He wrote a poem, Kalo Surjer Kalo Josnar Kalo Bonnai, published in the Sangbad’s literature page on 24 February 1974.[5] He was arrested on 11 March on charges of blasphemy.[5][8] He was physically attacked for his works.[when?] He was imprisoned by the government of Bangladesh.[when?][3] President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was blamed[according to whom?] for forcing him into exile.[9] His ancestral house was destroyed by arson and one of his relatives was killed.[3] He was expelled from Bangladesh on 21 May.[5]
Haider moved to exile in Kolkata, India where he lived for 13 years.[10][11][12] In 1987, the Indian government refused to extend his visa.[13][10] Then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi also ignored pleas from PEN America, namely Susan Sontag and Kurt Vonnegut.[10]
Günter Grass, a Nobel laureate German writer who was also living in Kolkata at the time, wrote a personal letter to the then German Foreign Minister, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, requesting that Haider be given asylum in Germany.[10] After the German government approval, Haider moved to Berlin in 1987.[10]
Haider later became a Deutsche Welle (DW) journalist in Germany.[10] He wrote his first articles for DW in 1989, on the topics of homeland and homelessness.[10] He wrote around 30 books while in exile in Germany which were published in India and Bangladesh.[10]
Personal life and death
[edit]Haider was an atheist and never married.[8][6] He rejected a German citizenship offer, instead he held a special UN visa that identified him as "stateless (Bangladesh)".[10]
Haider died on 26 April 2025, at the age of 73, at a clinic in Berlin, Germany.[14] He was buried at St. Michael Cemetery in Hermannstrasse in the Neukölln area of Berlin.[5] Several German media outlets published his obituary. A programme was arranged in his memory at the Kurt-Tucholsky Library.[5]
Awards
[edit]- "The best poem of Asia" from the London-based Poetry Society award in 1973.[3]
References
[edit]- ↑ "Ghaas babu of Kolkata". The Indian Express. 18 April 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
- ↑ "The struggle of memory against oblivion". The Daily Star. 13 December 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 Vonnegut, Kurt Jr.; Sontag, Susan; Olsen, Tillie; Olds, Sharon; Kennerly, Karen (24 October 1985). "The Case of Daud Haider". The New York Review of Books. Vol. 32, no. 16. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
- ↑ Ahmed, K. Anis (13 May 2015). "Why secular expression is being killed in Bangladesh, one blogger at a time". Scroll.in. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Poet Daud Haider laid to eternal rest in Berlin". Prothomalo. 2 May 2025. Retrieved 25 August 2026.
- 1 2 3 দাউদ হায়দারঃ পৃথিবীর একমাত্র লেখক যিনি দুইটি দেশ থেকে নির্বাসিত হয়েছিলেন। দাউদের পৈতৃক বাড়ি ঘুরে এসে. 20 July 2026. Retrieved 25 August 2026 – via YouTube.
- ↑ "Bangla Literature". Banglapedia. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
- 1 2 "Atheist bloggers flee Bangladesh". Deutsche Welle. 11 September 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
- ↑ "Another voice is silenced by Islamists". mid-day. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "A life in exile: On the death of Bangladesh poet Daud Haider". dw.com. 5 June 2026. Retrieved 25 August 2026.
- ↑ "Daud Haider". The Indian Express. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
- ↑ "Battle for Bangladesh's soul". The Hindu. 20 April 2016. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
- ↑ Ahmed, K. Anis (9 December 2015). "Things we don't write: K Anis Ahmed on the murdered writers of Bangladesh". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
- ↑ "Poet Daud Haider passes away". Dhaka Tribune. Retrieved 27 April 2025.
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