Sajed Kamal

Sajed Kamal (Son of Poet Begum Sufia Kamal), born in Bardhaman, West Bengal, India, grew up in what is now Bangladesh until coming to The Loomis School in Connecticut in 1963. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Economics and Education, respectively, from Northeastern University and his doctorate in Humanistic Studies from Boston University. He is an award-winning poet, artist, photographer, literary translator, psychotherapist, nursery school Teacher-Consultant and renewable energy educator. Author of more than a dozen books and many articles on different subjects, his poetry, in English and Bengali originals, and his translations have been published in the United States and abroad, and his paintings, sculptures and photographs have been exhibited in many individual and group shows. For his pioneering work in renewable energy, he received Boston “Mayor’s First Annual Green Award for Community Leadership and Climate Protection” in 2007, a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2008, in 2010 a Purpose Prize Fellowship by Encore.org, and in 2012 the “Rachel Carson Award” by Massachusetts Interfaith Power & Light. The “Greener Issue” of The Boston Sunday Globe Magazine on September 28, 2008, featured him as one of the “Six local heroes whose work is having rippling effects—at home and far away—in making the world a better place.” His published books include People City: After the Snowstorm, in poetry and photographs (1978); Peaceworks, on art for peace by New England artists (1985); Polimateer Goon (Virtues of Alluvial Soil), poems in Bengali (1995); Kazi Nazrul Islam: Selected Works (poems, songs, stories, plays, essays and speeches, translated by Sajed Kamal; 1999); Mother of Pearls, selected poems of Sufia Kamal (2001); Why Mustn’t I Flare Up? poetry of Kabita Chakma, translated from Bengali/Changma by Sajed Kamal (2002); Chharai Bhara Bashundhara (A World Full of Rhymes), poems for children in Bengali with drawings, recipient of The National Book Centre Award, Bangladesh, 2005 (2003); Awake Beautiful Eternal Youth!, translation of a musical play by Kazi Nazrul Islam (2006); Sundarban: Poems and Photographs of an Enchanting Journey (2006); The Untapped Energy Mine: The Revolutionary Scope of Renewable Energy to Fight Climate Change, Revitalize the Economy and Gain Energy Independence for Bangladesh (2010); The Renewable Revolution: How We Can Fight Global Warming, Prevent Energy Wars, Revitalize the Economy and Transition to a Sustainable Future (2011) and A Sage in the Dust: A Bilingual Edition of Selected Poems by Rabindranath Tagore, translated with an introduction by Sajed Kamal (2012).