Shan Uday Shankar Durjay

Shan Uday Shankar Durjay is a UK-based poet, essayist, translator and the Founder and Director of POL International Limited, an independent British publishing house established in England. His literary and publishing work centres on strengthening the international presence of Bengali literature through translation, editorial collaboration and sustained engagement with the wider literary world.

The vision behind POL began taking shape more than a decade ago. His experience of literary life in Britain, together with his encounters with literary cultures elsewhere, deepened his interest in the relationship between a literature’s creative richness and its international visibility. Language, editorial selection, publication and access to readers all influence how literary works circulate and acquire recognition beyond their original cultural setting. These considerations helped shape his ambition to create a continuing publishing framework through which Bengali writing could participate more fully in international literary exchange.

Central to this ambition is an understanding of translation as an interpretive and creative responsibility. Bringing a literary work into another language involves attention to its form, voice, historical context and cultural meaning, alongside the expectations of a new readership. Shan’s vision for POL connects this responsibility with the practical work of editing and publishing, seeking to widen access to Bengali literature while respecting the qualities that make individual works distinctive.

His work through POL Publications and his editorship, since 2019, of POL, an international literary magazine, have provided a foundation for this undertaking. The subsequent establishment of POL International Limited in England gave that long-term commitment an institutional home. Its purpose brings together the publication of Bengali writing in translation, engagement with literature from other languages, and collaboration among authors, translators and editors. Through these interconnected activities, POL seeks to support Bengali literature’s sustained participation in the mainstream international literary conversation.

Shan’s own literary journey began in 1996, when his first piece of writing appeared in a newspaper. His poetry, essays and translations have since appeared in numerous daily newspapers and literary magazines. He is the author of eight publications and has edited the poetry anthologies The Space and Words Beyond Horizons. Alongside his work with POL, he edits Spandan, a magazine dedicated to creative Bengali literature.

His academic background encompasses computer science, business information systems and management. He studied Computer Science at Bangalore University and Business Information Systems at the University of East London, and subsequently earned an MSc in Management from BPP University, UK.

His contributions to literature have been recognised with the Shahitto International Award for Literature from Bangladesh in 2021 and the International Aco Karamanov Poetry Award from North Macedonia in 2022.