Ekushey Padak-winning poet and renowned children’s rhymester Sukumar Barua passed away in a hospital in Chattogram this morning (2 December).

He was 87.

Barua breathed his last at around 6:55am, his daughter Anjana Barua confirmed to the media.

Family members said he had been undergoing treatment at the hospital for the past week due to old age-related complications. He had developed fluid accumulation in his lungs.

Sukumar Barua had been suffering from multiple health issues for years. Following a brain stroke in 2006, the right side of his body became partially paralysed. Later, he developed coronary-related disease, high blood pressure and diabetes, according to family sources.

Born on 5 January 1938, in Madhyam Binajuri village of Raozan upazila in Chattogram, Sukumar Barua began his professional life in the 1960s as a fourth-grade employee at Dhaka University.

In 1963, he rented a small bamboo-fenced room on Topkhana Road for Tk6 per month and began writing independently. His rhymes soon appeared in prominent children’s literary platforms such as Kochikachar Ashor, Khelaghar and Mukuler Mahfil.

He retired from Dhaka University in 1999.

Over nearly six decades of writing, Sukumar Barua emerged as one of the most influential figures in Bangla literature for children.

Widely known as Chhararaj, Chharashilpi and Chharasamrat, he was celebrated for blending satire, humour and moral lessons, while also incorporating themes of the 1971 Liberation War and political consciousness.

Some of his notable works include Pagla Ghora, Bhije Beral, Chandana Ranjanar Chhora, Elopataari, Nana Ronger Din, Sukumar Baruar 101ti Chhora, Chiching Phank, Kichu Na Kichu, Priyo Chhora Shotok, Nodir Khela, Chotoder Haat, Mojar Pora 100 Chhora, Sukumar Baruar Chhora Shombhar (two volumes), Juktoborno, Chandanar Pathshala and Jiboner Bhetore Baire.

In recognition of his contribution to literature, the Government of Bangladesh awarded him the Ekushey Padak in 2017.

Writers and cultural figures said Sukumar Barua’s death marks the end of an era in Bangla children’s rhymes, leaving behind a literary legacy that shaped generations of readers.