You are cordially invited to the 20th North America Nazrul conference - at Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto, Saturday, August 17th, 2024, Toronto, Canada from 1:00 PM to 11:00 PM.

Every other years since 1990, the North America Nazrul Conference Committee (NANCC), a socio-cultural Bangladeshi North American organization, has been commemorating the birth and works of Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam. The 20th Nazrul Conference will be held in Toronto, Canada on Saturday, August 17th, 2024, and will be hosted by Deshi Television Inc. (DeshiTV), a 24-hour first digital Bangla South Asian TV Channel broadcast from Canada.

Poet extraordinaire Kazi Nazrul Islam was born in 1899 in the province of Bengal in British India. Protean in his talents, novelist, journalist, musical-genius, songwriter, actor, and political activist Nazrul, was more importantly, a genuine human being who represents Bengal's true heritage.

Nazrul’s life and literature lent socio-political purpose and a sense of direction to the early twentieth century quest for Bengali national identity. Active in the vanguard of the nationalist movement against British colonial rule, he simultaneously launched a crusade against indigenous exploitation and oppression based on class, caste, gender and religion earning him his “Rebel” epithet. He represented the spirit of our own “civil rights movement.”

Nazrul’s poetry and songs are a mosaic of our (Bengal’s) cultural diversity. Blending mythology, faith, patriotism, and egalitarianism together in his literary pot, he brews them into a wondrous symphony. Kazi Nazrul Islam transcended the limits of contemporary religious, cultural, literary, and territorial boundaries.

Sadly, he was silenced before his time. He became mute due to illness at the age of 42. Yet he lives on larger than life in the minds of succeeding generations of Bengali people.

The Nazrul Convention rightly engages in exploring, promoting, and demonstrating the richness of Nazrul's works to the community and works to attain international recognition for one of the most critical poets of the twentieth century.

We expect a large number of participants from all over Canada and the USA as well as invited artists, performers, and scholars from Bangladesh, India, Canada and the United States.

You and your organization's active participation and support will not only help the convention but also help promote your own values and rich heritage in the North America and around the globe.

Well-known groups, famous Nazrul singers and performers from both Bengals and from Canada and USA will present the different poetic attributes of Kazi Nazrul Islam.

The Nazrul Scholars will also present the values and brilliance of the poet’s literature & philosophy in the Seminar.