Background
On 8 February 1934 poet Abu Zafar Mohammad Obaidullah Khan (A Z M Obaidullah Khan) was born in Baherchar-Kshudrakathi village under Babuganj upazila of Barisal district on 8 February 1934, in undivided India. He was the second son of Justice Abdul Jabbar Khan, a former speaker of the Pakistan national assembly. He received his primary education in Mymensingh town where his father Abdul Jabbar Khan was working as the district judge.
Career
Two of his long poems, Aami-Kingbodontir-Kathaa Bolchi and Bristi O Shahosi Purush-er Jonyo Pranthona have become famous since their first publication in the late 1970s. In 1948, he passed the matriculation examination from the Mymensingh Zilla School. He passed the Intermediate in Arts examination as a student of the Dhaka College in 1950.
He was then admitted into the Dhaka University to study English and after securing Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and Master of Arts degrees, he joined the same university in 1954 as a lecturer in the Department of English.
He appeared in the Pakistan Superior Service Examinations and having stood second in the combined national merit list, he joined the Civil Service of Pakistan in 1957. He was promoted as Secretary to the Government of Bangladesh in 1976 and after retiring in 1982, he accecpted the position of Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources in 1982.
Later he also served as Bangladesh"s Ambassador to the United States of America. In 1992, he became the Assistant Director General of Food and Agriculture Organization Regional Office in Bangkok.
He retired from this position four years later.
He died on 19 March 2001. He was the second eldest brother of journalist Enayetullah Khan and politician Rashed Khan Menon. Abu Zafar Obaidullah actively participated in the Language Movement of 1952.
He composed "Kono Ek Ma-key" ("To a Mother") for the first anthology on Ekushey, which is recited at the Central Shaheed Minar on 21 February every year.
He founded "" which became the leading poetry movement of Bangladesh in the 1980s. lovers of Dhaka established in 2002. Currently Arif Nazrul is the Foundation president (2008).
Among other regular activities, this foundation gives annual awards to people they view as contributing to the national interest. Also, "Poet Abu Zafar Obaidullah Smriti Pathagar" (memorial library) was established in Babuganj of Barisal in 2003.