The Executive Board of the Sahitya Akademi recently chose Narayan Debnath’s Comics Samagra for its Bal Sahitya Puraskar for 2013.
The book, published under the name Narayan Debnath Comics Samagra, includes all of Debnath’s published and unpublished works complete with a brief biography of the artist and research on his 50 years of art work.
One of the richest wealth of children’s literature is found in the Bengali language. For over 50 years now, the comic characters Handa-Bhonda, Bantul The Great, and Nonte-Fonte have entertained children with their regular comic strips in children’s magazines such as Shuktara.
Known as the father of Bengali comics, Narayan Debnath’s comic creations have made kids laugh with their hilarious antics, innocuous and at times silly pranks. ‘Handa Bhonda’ started in Shuktara from 1962 and ‘Batul The Great’ from 1965. ‘Nonte Phonte’ was launched in Kishore Bharati from 1969.
