Sheba Prokashoni ( bn, সেবা প্রকাশনী) is a publishing house in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...

. It was founded by

Qazi Anwar Hussain Qazi Anwar Hussain (19 July 1936 – 19 January 2022) was a Bangladeshi writer who mainly penned spy thriller, detective and adventure based novels, most of which are adaptations translated from or heavily influenced by foreign literature. Ear ...

. Its books are aimed at young Bangladeshi readers, and include translations of Western literary classics into the

Bengali language Bengali ( ), generally known by its endonym Bangla (, ), is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Bengal region of South Asia. It is the official, national, and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh and the second most widely spoken o ...

History

Sheba Prokashoni was founded in May, 1963 by

. Its name may have derived from the first syllables of Shegun Bagan, now renamed as Shegun Bagicha, the neighbourhood of Dhaka city where its offices are located. The literal meaning of the Bengali word "Sheba" is "service." Sheba's focus, from its inception, has been to produce mass-market popular Bengali

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, le ...

s that are both attractively-written and affordably priced. Its first successful product was ''Kuasha'' (Kuasha-1, first edition published in June 1964), a short-lived modern-Robin Hood style adventure series. This was closely followed by the

Masud Rana Masud Rana is a fictional character created in 1966 by the writer Qazi Anwar Hussain, who featured him in 469 books (321 novels and 6 short stories). Hussain created the adult spy-thriller series Masud Rana, at first modeled after James Bond, bu ...

, a spy-thriller series, one of Sheba's most enduring and popular imprints.

Masud Rana Series

These books described the adventures of its eponymous hero

, an international

spy Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...

of Bangladeshi origin, closely resembling

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 19 ...

in his expertise with weapons and women. Although the author of the series was

, Hossain liberally borrowed plot lines from popular Western

spy thrillers Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tang ...

. Nonetheless, the series was a boon for young people in post-war Bangladesh, who had few entertainment alternatives in an era pre-dating video games, cable TV and the internet. The books caused concern among some middle-class parents because of their occasional racy content, and reading Masud Rana was an activity often frowned upon. The series eventually ran to well over a hundred individual titles. There was even a Bengali action thriller movie based on Masud Rana's character. The title was also ''Masud Rana''. It came out in 1974 with famous actor Sohel Rana (real name: Masud Parvez) in the lead role of Masud Rana. It was the first film for Sohel Rana as a lead actor.

Kishore Classic Series

This series introduced the finest works of world literature to a young Bangladeshi audience. The Hossain brothers and their staff were adept at producing translations that were brisk and taut, contemporary and well written. Through their mediation, the ''kishore'' or teenagers of Bangladesh made their first (and in most cases, only) acquaintance with the works of

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraord ...

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...

Alexandre Dumas, père Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer. ...

and many others. The translations were usually condensed forms of the original titles and ran to 200-300 pages. While Sheba played a vital role in encouraging reading among young people, making such translations available is arguably its most important contributions.

Translators of Sheba

The books from Kishore Classic series are translated by Neaz Morshed (original name: Neaz Morshed Quaderi), Rakib Hasan, Asaduzzaman, Kazi Shahnoor Hussain, Babul Alam etc.

Tin Goyenda

The Tin Goyenda series was written by

Rakib Hasan ''Tin Goyenda'' ( bn, তিন গোয়েন্দা ) is a series of juvenile detective novels written by Rakib Hasan and published in Bangladesh by Sheba Prokashoni. The Tin Goyenda series is a subseries of ''Kishore Thriller'' (juvenil ...

, and described the adventures of Kishore Pasha, a Bangladeshi-American teen detective, and his two friends Musa Aman and Robin Milford. The cerebral Kishore lives with his aunt and uncle Rashed in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

, and is much given to pinching his lower lip while pondering some knotty problem from his latest case. Robin, his white Irish American friend, is the bespectacled geek, and the irrepressible Musa, a black American Muslim boy, provides comic relief. The series is a remake of

Robert Arthur, Jr. Robert Arthur Jr. (November 10, 1909 – May 2, 1969) was a writer and editor of crime fiction and speculative fiction known for his work with ''The Mysterious Traveler'' radio series and for writing ''The Three Investigators'', a series of y ...

Three Investigators The Three Investigators is an American juvenile detective book series first published as "''Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators''". It was created by Robert Arthur Jr., who believed involving a famous person such as movie director Alfred ...

. Rakib Hasan also adopted plot lines from The Famous Five as well as

The Hardy Boys The Hardy Boys, brothers Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional characters who appear in several mystery series for children and teens. The series revolves around teenagers who are amateur sleuths, solving cases that stumped their adult counterp ...

and similar teen-detective titles, but his readers, unaware of such issues, consumed the Tin Goyenda books avidly.

Adaptations of Western series

These were adaptations of pulp cowboy Westerns by authors such as

Louis L'Amour Louis Dearborn L'Amour (; né LaMoore; March 22, 1908 – June 10, 1988) was an American novelist and short story writer. His books consisted primarily of Western novels (though he called his work "frontier stories"); however, he also wrote hi ...

. The series introduced the

Wild West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

to the Bengali language. ''Aleyar Pichche'' (Behind the Light) was the first ''Western'' adapted book in Bangla, written by Qazi Mahbub Hossain. The series was also quite successful and ran to several dozen titles. Other popular contributors in this series include Saokot Hossain and Rowshan Jamil.

Other publications

Other popular titles by Sheba include books on self-help such as ''Atto-Shommohon'' (

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the ...

:- আত্ত-সমহন) or ''Self-Hypnosis''; sports trivia; horror (''

The Exorcist ''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin and written for the screen by William Peter Blatty, based on his 1971 novel of the same name. It stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Kitt ...

'' and ''

The Omen ''The Omen'' is a 1976 supernatural horror film directed by Richard Donner and written by David Seltzer. An international co-production of the United Kingdom and the United States, it stars Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Harvey Spencer ...

'', published in 3 volumes ''Oshuvo Shongket'' (The Omen), ''Abar Oshuvo Songket'' (Omen Again) and ''Shesh Oshuvo Songket'' (The Last Omen) ); and real-world mysteries like

UFOs An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are ide ...

and the

Bermuda Triangle The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is an urban legend focused on a loosely defined region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft and ships are said to have disappeared under myster ...

. For many years, it also published a monthly magazine called '' Rahashya Potrika'' or ''Mystery Magazine'', featuring stories and articles of general interest. A juvenile magazine in the name of Kishore Potrika is also published from Sheba Prokashoni.Sheba titles are characterized by their distinctive red-and-yellow butterfly logo. Rahasya Patrika (In English: Mystery Magazine) is one of the most popular monthly magazines in

. Rahasya Patrika was first published in 1970. Since 1984 from Sheba Prokashoni this magazine was edited by

Kazi Anwar Hossain Kazi Anwar Hossain ( bn, কাজী আনোয়ার হোসেন; born 2 June 1957) is a retired Bangladeshi football player and coach. Club career Anwar made his Dhaka League debut in 1976 for Abahani Krira Chakra. He soon became a ...

. Sheikh Abdul Hakim, Rakib Hasan, etc regularly wrote in this magazine. Artist Hashem Khan was the first art editor of the magazine.

History

In the first phase, four issues were published in 1970. After the independence of Bangladesh in 1984 from Seba Prakashani, this magazine was edited by

and it started to be published regularly. He was the founding editor of this magazine. The Executive Editor of this magazine is Qazi Shahnur Husain and Qazi Maimur Husain. It is a mystery and adventure monthly literary magazine and the magazine features various types of literary works with reader participation. Around 1969-70, under the inspiration of

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

Rahat Khan Rahat Khan (19 December 1940 – 28 August 2020) was a Bangladeshi journalist and litterateur. He wrote more than 32 novels. He won Bangla Academy Literary Award in 1973 and Ekushey Padak in 1996 by the Government of Bangladesh. Early life K ...

, it was thought to publish a mystery magazine. Accordingly, the first issue was published in November 1970. However, after the release of four issues, the magazine's publication was suspended due to the Bangladesh War of Independence outbreak. After independence, the publication of the magazine could not be started due to various reasons, but in 1984, the magazine was re-published which continues till date. The magazine is always printed in black and white on paperback paper. Color printing is used for covers. The magazine has various regular sections.

References

{{Reflist Publishing companies of Bangladesh 1963 establishments in East Pakistan