| Shahaduz Zaman | |
| Native Name: | শাহাদুজ্জামান |
| Native Name Lang: | bn |
| Occupation: | Writer, Public Health Specialist, Anthropologist, Columnist, Physician by Training. |
| Education: | PhD |
| Alma Mater: | Mirzapur Cadet College, Chittagong Medical College, University of Amsterdam |
| Genres: | Short story, Fiction, Essay, Column, Films. |
Shahaduz Zaman (Bengali: শাহাদুজ্জামান; born 1960) is a writer in Bengali literature. He is a medical anthropologist and a trained physician. He published over 30 books in different genres such as short stories, novels, travelogues, columns, and essays on contemporary issues.[1] He won the Bangla Academy Literary Award in 2016 in the fiction category.[2] [3]
Shahaduz Zaman was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and lived in different parts of the country. He attended Mirzapur Cadet College for his high school studies. He studied medicine at Chittagong Medical College. Later, he studied public health and obtained a doctorate in medical anthropology from the University of Amsterdam. As of 2021, he works at the medical school of the University of Sussex.[4] Besides his literary work, he has numerous academic publications.
Among his most important books are Crutch-er Colonel (Colonel on a Crutch), "Poshchimer Meghe Shonar Shingho" (Golden Lion on the Western Clouds), "Koyekti Bihbol Golpo" (Several Awe-inspiring Stories), "Kotha-Porompora" (Interviews), "Ekti Haspatal, Ekjon Nri-biggani O Koekti Bhanga Har" (A Hospital, an Anthropologist and Some Broken Bones), and "Bishorgo-te Dukkho" (M for Melancholy).
Shahaduz Zaman is noted for his experimentation with short stories and a distinct style of prose writing. He combines elements of modern-day story-telling with sharp observations of society. In several of his biographical fictions such as "Ekjon Komolalebu" and "Crutch-er Colonel", he combined imagination with historical facts and analysis, and thus breaking away from the rigid definition of a novel. His book "Bishorgo-te Dukkho" (M for Melancholy) has been considered a meta-fiction, one of the first of this genre in Bengali. The book "Kotha-Porompora" (Interviews), which is a set of interviews of prominent writers, artists and thinkers, is considered one of the best book of interviews in Bengali. He is also well regarded for his columns, essays, and film criticism.
Several of his stories and books have been made into films and stage dramas. A movie called Komola Rocket (The Orange Ship) was based on two of his short stories, and furthermore, he wrote the screenplay for the movie. A stage drama based on Crutch-er Colonel (Colonel on a Crutch) had many shows throughout Bangladesh, and has been popular with both spectators and critics.[5] Several short films have been made from his stories as well.
"Ibrahim Buksh's Circus and Other Stories" [6] is an anthology of some of his stories in English. His thesis "Broken Limbs, Broken Lives: Ethnography of a Hospital Ward in Bangladesh"[7] is a medical anthropology work in the context of Bangladesh. He wrote a critically acclaimed popular book based on this - "Ekti Haspatal, Ekjon Nri-biggani O Koekti Bhanga Har" (A Hospital, an Anthropologist and Some Broken Bones).