Renowned fiction writer Dr. Abdur Noor, who resides in the United States, has been honored with the New York Muktodhara Lifetime Achievement Award 2025! Dr. Noor, who began writing stories and novels in newspapers while studying at university in 1956, has been an influential figure in Bengali literature. His works have been broadcast on Dhaka Radio and television, including various short stories and plays. Some of his plays have been performed on the stage at the Bangla Academy, Curzon Hall, and the open stage of Dhaka Radio. Some of these are still available on YouTube today. His plays such as “Char Dewal”, “Shikar”, and “Madhyoshomudro Jahaj” continue to be performed.
Dr. Abdur Noor has written five novels. Among them, “Pegasus” covers the system of contract slave exportation during the British colonial era in India and Bengal, and the struggles of the exported slaves in the Western Indian Archipelago. In “Shunno Brikkho”, the theme of the Bengali immigrant’s identity struggle in America is explored. “Bicholito Somoy” portrays the efforts and struggles of Bengali writers and poets in the 17th century to preserve the Bengali language. His monumental 1000-page novel “Dhaka Shohor Ghire” is set in the year 1668, during the Mughal period in Dhaka, Subah Bengal. It explores the Bengali pursuit of self-identity that has lasted for six hundred years and will continue for many more centuries to come.
Dr. Abdur Noor is a professional in education and human resource development policy formulation and application. He currently resides in Bethesda, Maryland, USA. Born in Dhaka in 1939, he completed his PhD in educational administration at Michigan State University at the age of 28 in 1967. In 1970, he began working at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., where he remained involved for forty years. He was an active contributor to the formulation and planning of the first education policy for the World Bank (1974). In 1976, he helped formulate a collective investment policy in nine developmental sectors under the leadership of the then-president of the World Bank, Robert McNamara, to assist in poverty alleviation programs in developing countries.
Throughout his career, Dr. Abdur Noor traveled to 35 developing countries across five continents, providing assistance in the formulation and application of educational policies and plans. These countries included Iran, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Mauritius, Guyana, Guatemala, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and others. In response to the call of the newly independent government of Bangladesh, Dr. Noor joined the Bangladesh Planning Commission in 1973 for one year. During this time, he contributed to the formulation of the country’s first Five-Year Plan (1973-1978) on education and human resource development policy.
In the same year, he had the privilege of meeting with the Father of the Nation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, several times. In a few private meetings, the Bangabandhu shared his personal vision and dreams for the education policy and development of an independent Bangladesh, offering advice to Dr. Abdur Noor. Dr. Noor made efforts to reflect the policies received from Bangabandhu in the first Five-Year Plan of Bangladesh. This, he considers one of the most significant achievements of his life.