Born on 10 April 1955, Ashoke (Kumar) Mukhopadhyay, an MBA from Calcutta University and a corporate communications professional, attached with leading corporate houses in India including Shaw Wallace, Exide, CESC, and Reliance spanning over four decades, made his mark in literature with a series of meticulously researched articles and insightful documentation. For his articles, he won the prestigious Ananda Snowcem Award twice.
Mukhopadhyay's passion for research and attention to detail is evident in his novels. His bio-fiction Agnipurush, based on the lesser-known militant nationalist Ullaskar Dutt (1906), earned the Ullaskar Puraskar 2023 from the Ullaskar Dutt Academy. His docu-novel Aatta Natar Surya explores the Naxalite Movement of the 1970s, its downfall, and its subversions. Both novels became bestsellers, received critical acclaim, and were well-received by the Bengali literary community.
His ability to seamlessly weave facts with imagination is further showcased in Abiram Jwarer Rupkatha (translated by Arunava Sinha as A Ballad of Remittent Fever, which was longlisted for the JCB Award in 2020). Mukhopadhyay describes it as the result of five years of dedicated effort. His latest fiction, Ek Number Akashganga, is the first novel in any Indian language to explore the lives of food delivery riders and gig workers.
For the past three decades, Mukhopadhyay has extensively documented the activities of armed revolutionaries during the pre-independence era, Rabindranath Tagore's portraits, and Kolkata’s evolving social landscape. His research-driven books include Tegarter Andaman Diary (a collection of essays on militant nationalists), Pratham Diner Rabi (essays on Rabindranath Tagore, including his early attempts at drawing), and Kali Mayer Boma (a study of revolutionaries in pre-independent India). His writings on Kolkata include Chena Para Achena Manush and Lattuparar Lettikatha.
Recently, he published a well-researched biography of Charu Majumdar, Sattarer Swapnajoddha: Charu Majumdar. He previously authored two concise biographies in English: Uday Shankar: Twentieth Century’s Nataraja and Charu Majumdar: The Dreamer Rebel. He has also written Shubhaprasanna: Nilima O Nairajya, a book on artist Shuvaprasanna’s paintings.
Mukhopadhyay has edited five books: India & Communism: Secret British Documents, The Naxalites: Through the Eyes of the Police, ‘Terrorism’ – A Colonial Construct, Partition of Bengal, and Mukti Kon Pathe.
His narrative Surya Sen, written for young readers, is widely read. Select excerpts are included in the Class 5 curriculum of West Bengal government schools, and a version of the book has also been published in Dhaka.
In January 2025, he released Lattuparar Lettikatha, a collection of essays on Kolkata. His latest book, Tin Kuri Shaat—a collection of three novellas and twenty short stories—hit the market in April 2025.
For around two decades, Mukhopadhyay was also a guest faculty of the Department of Journalism & Mass Communications, at Calcutta University; besides, he delivered lectures on Corporate Communications at the University of Burdwan and Jadavpur University.
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