Samakal, The

Samakal, The a progressive literary magazine published from Dhaka. Edited by sikander abu zafar. Samakal’s first issue was published in Bhadra 1364 Bangabda (1957 AD). The issue contained poems by shamsur rahman and Abul Hossain, short stories by shawkat osman and alauddin al azad, essays by mohammad waliullah, AK Nazmul Karim, Quazi Deen Mohammad, Anisuzzaman, quamrul hassan, abdullah al-muti sharfuddin, and quazi motahar husain, and book reviews by abdul ghani hazari and Chakladar Mahbub Alam.

hasan hafizur rahman worked as associate editor of the magazine till the second year of its publication. From the third year, it was edited solely by Sikander Abu Zafar. It became irregular in the seventh year of publication. A special issue of the magazine-Rabindra Janma Shatabarsiki Sangkhya, celebrating the birth centenary of rabindranath tagore- was published in 1961. Another special issue on poetry, combining two issues of the magazine, was published in Paush'Chaitra, 1371 Bangabda (1964). It included eight long essays on poetry and 191 poems by 57 poets of East Bengal. In the thirteenth year there were only three issues published. The magazine continued in this fashion till August 1970.

Two issues of the Samakal (Baishakh-Shravan 1372 and Bhadra-Agrahayan 1372 Bangabda) were confiscated during the military rule. After the independence of Bangladesh, the Samakal started coming out with renewed vigour. The first issue of the eighteenth year, published in Magh 1382 Bangabda (1975) was a 'Sikander Abu Zafar Memorial Number' edited by poet Hasan Hafizur Rahman. The chief editor was abu jafar shamsuddin. Henceforth, the publication of the magazine became irregular for three years and a half.

The Samakal is still regarded as a high-quality magazine for its content and appearance. Some of its cover designers were renowned artists like zainul abedin, Quamrul Hassan, Debabrata Mukhopadhyay, Quayyum Chowdhury, Syed Jahangir, Rashid Chowdhury, Aminul Islam, Debdas Chakrabarty, Muktadir and Nitun Kundu. [Khondkar Sirajul Haque]