1936 to 2022. The writer, editor and publisher who gave Bengali readers a hero of their own.
Qazi Anwar Hussain, known to readers simply as QAH, founded Sheba Prokashoni and, in 1966, introduced Masud Rana in Dhongsho Pahar. Over the decades he built not just a character but an entire reading culture: affordable paperbacks that put fast, cinematic storytelling into the hands of ordinary Bengali readers, and a publishing house that nurtured translators and writers.
The Masud Rana and Kuasha series grew into hundreds of titles and shaped how generations discovered thrillers, science fiction and adventure in Bangla. QAH passed away on 19 January 2022, but the world he built keeps finding new readers.
He did not just write a spy. He wrote a doorway that millions of readers walked through into a lifelong love of books.
The house QAH founded, home to Masud Rana, Kuasha, Tin Goyenda and a library of translated classics.
Cheap, thrilling, everywhere. QAH's paperbacks made reading for pleasure normal for Bengali youth.
