Sheba Prokashoni
Sheba Prokashoni is a publishing house in Dhaka, Bangladesh, founded in May 1963 by Qazi Anwar Hussain. The name comes from the neighborhood where its offices are located, and Sheba means “service” in Bengali. The company aims to produce affordable, well-written Bengali paperbacks for young readers, including translations of Western classics into Bengali.
Its first big success was Kuasha (1964), followed by the Masud Rana spy-thriller series, one of its most popular imprints. Masud Rana, a Bangladeshi international spy who often uses high-tech skills and charm, is inspired by James Bond. Although Hussain led the publishing, he borrowed plot ideas from Western thrillers. The series grew to more than a hundred titles and even inspired a 1974 film starring Sohel Rana (Masud Rana), marking his first lead role. These books helped introduce world literature to many teenagers in Bangladesh, with translations kept brisk and tight at about 200–300 pages.
Translators who brought these works to Bangladeshi readers include Neaz Morshed, Rakib Hasan, Asaduzzaman, Kazi Shahnoor Hussain, and Babul Alam. The Tin Goyenda series, written by Rakib Hasan, follows Kishore Pasha, a Bangladeshi-American teen detective, and his friends Musa Aman and Robin Milford. It is a Bengali adaptation of The Three Investigators and borrows from The Famous Five and The Hardy Boys, as well as Western Western cowboy stories by Louis L’Amour, introducing the Wild West to Bengali readers. Aleyar Pichche (Behind the Light) was the first Western adapted book in Bengali.
Other popular Sheba titles cover self-help (Atto-Shommohon or Self-Hypnosis), sports trivia, horror (The Exorcist and The Omen, published as a three-volume set Oshuvo Shongket, Abar Oshuvo Songket, and Shesh Oshuvo Songket), and real-world mysteries like UFOs and the Bermuda Triangle. Sheba also published Rahasya Patrika (Mystery Magazine), a monthly magazine for readers of mystery and adventure, and Kishore Potrika, a juvenile magazine. The distinctive red-and-yellow butterfly logo identifies Sheba’s books.
Rahasya Patrika started in 1970 and was edited by Kazi Anwar Hossain from 1984 onward. Contributors include Sheikh Abdul Hakim and Rakib Hasan, with Hashem Khan as the first art editor. The magazine began with four issues, paused during the Bangladesh War of Independence, and was relaunched in 1984, continuing to this day as a black-and-white publication with color covers and regular reader-participation sections.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 13:12 (CET).