Sahitya Akademi president and eminent author Sunil Gangopadhyay died at his South Kolkata residence on Tuesday, following a massive heart attack.
The 78 year-old author of over 200 books, Sunil made significant contribution to Bengali literature.
His celebrated works include Sei Somoy, Prathom Alo and Purbo-Paschim.
He is the winner of several awards, including Sahitya Akademi Award (1985), Ananda Puraskar (1989) and the Hindu Literary Prize (2011).
As the founder of seminal poetry magazine Krittibas, Sunil always claimed that poetry was his first love. “We all mourn his death. He had contributed a lot through his excellent style of writing. He was extremely vigilant in protecting the richness in Bengali culture. The cultural world has lost a bright star. It will not be easy to fill the vacuum,” said President Pranab Mukherjee.
“The Chief Minister (Mamata Banerjee) has offered her condolences to his (Sunil’s) family. His body will be kept at Rabindra Sadan so that people could pay their last respects,” said State Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee on Tuesday.
Sunil’s critic and Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen tweeted: “As an honest critic, I blamed him for exploiting women, but I always praised him for being an atheist and a very good writer.”
Author Amitav Ghosh also posted on his micro-blogging site: “Deeply shocked by the death of the great Bengali writer Sunil Gangopadhyay. He was warm, kind man and a dear friend. Will miss him terribly.”
Sunil’s death was mourned by many others, including actor Soumitro Chatterjee. “We were in the same college.... I am grief-stricken by his death,” he said. The cremation would be held on Thursday. But there would be no funeral rites as Sunil was an atheist.