Shuddhashar Publishing House will receive the 2016 Jeri Laber International Freedom to Publish Award at the PEN Literary Gala next week.
Given by the Association of American Publishers International Freedom to Publish Committee (IFTPC), the award will honor the publisher for putting out works by secular and progressive Bengali writers despite being targeted by Islamic militant groups with little to no support from the local government. Here is more from the press release:
Shuddhashar (the name means “pure voice”) was established in 2004 by three colleagues: Ahmedur Rashid Chowdhury Tutul, Mahbub Leelen, and Zafir Setu. While commercially successful, (in 2013 it had more bestsellers than any other Bangladeshi publisher), the publisher enraged Islamic extremists for issuing works by secular authors such as Avijit Roy and Ananta Bijoy Das, both of whom were killed during a spree of violence that targeted writers, publishers and bloggers. Shuddhashar co-founder Tutul barely survived an attack at his office last fall.