Paying tribute to its founding president Poet Sufia Kamal, leading cultural organisation Chhayanaut arranging a monsoon programme titled ‘Sufia Kamal Smarak Barshar Onusthan’ (Sufia Kamal Memorial Monsoon Programme) today evening at the Chhayanaut Auditorium in Dhanmondi of the capital.

The programme features monsoon-related songs, poetry recitation, song and dance performances. The event is open to all. Born in Shaestabad, Barisal on June 20 in 1911, Begum Sufia Kamal was an influential cultural icon in the Bengali nationalist movement of the 1950s and 60s and an important civil society leader in independent Bangladesh. She helped establish a number of cultural and social organisations, including Chhayanaut and Bangladesh Mahila Parishad. Sufia Kamal’s notable writings are ‘Maya Kajol’, ‘Mon O Jibon’, Santi O Prarthona’, ‘Keyar Kata’ and many others. She passed away on November 20 in 1999 and was the first woman to be given a state funeral in the country.

Where: Chhayanaut, Dhanmondi

When: 7pm, today