Sunil

Author of well over 200 books, [1] Sunil
was a prolific writer who has excelled in
different genres but declares poetry to
be his "first love". [5] His Nikhilesh and
Neera series of poems (some of which
have been translated as For You, Neera
and Murmur in the Woods) have been
extremely popular.
As in poetry, Sunil was known for his
unique style in prose. His first novel was
Atmaprakash and it was also the first
writing from a new comer in literature
published in the prestigious magazine-
Desh (1965). [8] It was critically
acclaimed but some controversy arose
for its aggressive and 'obscene' style.
Sunil said that he was afraid of this novel
and went away from Calcutta for a few
days. Satyajit Ray thought to make a film
on it but it wasn't possible for reasons.
The central character of 'Atmaprakash' is
a young man of core-calcutta'- Sunil, who
leads a bohemian life-style. The novel
had inspiration from ' On the road' by
Jack Kerouac, the beat generation writer.
His historical fiction Sei Somoy
(translated into English by Aruna
Chakravorty as Those Days) received the
Indian Sahitya Akademi award in 1985.
Sei Somoy continues to be a best seller
more than two decade after its first
publication.[ citation needed ] The same is
true for Prathama Alo (also translated
recently by Aruna Chakravorty as First
Light ), another best selling historical
fiction and Purbo-Paschim, a raw
depiction of the partition and its
aftermath seen through the eyes of
three generations of Bengalis in West
Bengal, Bangladesh and elsewhere. He is
also the winner of the Bankim Puraskar
(1982), and the Ananda Puraskar (twice,
in 1972 and 1989).