Ahmedur Tutul Chowdhury: The poet and writer who is an outcast everywhere, even in his homeland, Bangladesh
– Bangladesh
Ahmedur Tutul Chowdhury (* 1973) is a publisher, writer and editor from Bangladesh. In 1990 he began to publish magazine Shuddhashar (Free Voice), which has since become a platform for young and unconventional Bangladeshi writers. In 2004 he opened his own publishing house in Dhaka under the same name, where he published mainly the works of progressive Bangladeshi writers. The publishing house has received a prestigious award for contributing to the national literature.
In October 2015 Ahmedur Chowdhury was a victim of a coordinated machete attack on publishers of secular authors: he had received direct death threats from Islamists and was among the main targets of the attack. Despite these threats, he continued to publish; including books by Avijit Roy, who was murdered in February 2015.
Chowdhury currently lives in exile in Norway where he arrived in 2016 for an ICORN residency in Skien. He has received recognition and several awards for his work and courage.