| Shawkat Osman | |
| Native Name: | শওকত ওসমান |
| Native Name Lang: | bn |
| Birth Name: | Sheikh Azizur Rahman |
| Birth Date: | 1917 1, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Sabalsinghapur, Hooghly, Bengal Presidency |
| Death Place: | Dhaka, Bangladesh |
| Father: | Sheikh Mohammad Yehia |
| Children: | Yeafesh Osman |
| Education: | MA (Bengali) |
| Alma Mater: | Aliah University St. Xavier's College, Calcutta University of Calcutta Chittagong Commerce College |
| Awards: | full list |
Sheikh Azizur Rahman (Bengali: শেখ আজিজুর রহমান; 2 January 1917 – 14 May 1998), known as Shawkat Osman (Bengali: শওকত ওসমান), was a Bangladeshi novelist and short story writer.[1] He won the Bangla Academy Literary Award in 1962, the Ekushey Padak in 1983 and the Independence Day Award in 1997.[2] [3] [4]
Shawkat Osman was born as Sheikh Azizur Rahman on 2 January 1918 to Sheikh Muhammad Yahya and Guljan Begum. He belonged to a Bengali Muslim Sheikh family from the village of Sabalsinghapur in Hooghly, Bengal Presidency (now in West Bengal). He began his education at the local maktab and then enrolled at the Calcutta Alia Madrasa. However, he later transferred to the St. Xavier's College of the University of Calcutta where he received his BA in politics in 1938, and MA in Bengali in 1941.[5] [1]
Osman migrated to Chittagong, East Bengal (present-day Bangladesh) after the partition of Bengal in 1947. He started teaching at Chittagong Commerce College.[1] He then served as a faculty member at Dhaka College during 1959–1972.[1]
Osman's first prominent novel was Janani, a portrait of the disintegration of a family because of the rural and urban division. In Kritadasher Hashi (Laugh of a Slave), Osman explored the darkness of contemporary politics and reality of dictatorship.[1]
Osman's son Yeafesh Osman is the incumbent Science and Technology minister of Bangladesh.[6]