Sajed Kamal's PUBLISHED BOOKS:

People City: After the Snowstorm, in poetry and photographs (Fenway Arts Council, 1978)

Peaceworks, on art for peace by New England artists (Branden Press, Brookline, MA, 1985)

Photovoltaics: A Global Revolution & Its Scope for Bangladesh (UBINIG: Policy Research for Development Alternative, Bangladesh, 1989)

ARARAT, poems during a journey through Armenia (Fenway Arts Council, 1995)

Polimateer Goon (Virtues of Alluvial Soil), poems in Bengali (Sanjher Maya, Bangladesh, 1995; Pathak Shamabesh, Bangladesh, 2018, expanded edition)

Chharai Bhara Bashundhara (A World Full of Rhymes), poems for children in Bengali with drawings (Somoy Prakashan, Bangladesh, 2003)

Sundarban: Poems and Photographs of an Enchanting Journey (Somoy Prakashan, Bangladesh, 2006). Includes a meticulously researched introduction to the history and ecology of Sundarban, the world’s largest mangrove forest. “In these poems and pictures, Sajed Kamal sees into the simple heart of the magical Sundarban, and indeed any place still haunted by the real original magic.” Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and Wandering Home.

The Untapped Energy Mine: The Revolutionary Scope of Renewable Energy to Fight Climate Change, Revitalize the Economy and Gain Energy Independence for Bangladesh (Scholars Publishers, Bangladesh, 2010)

The Renewable Revolution: How We Can Fight Global Warming, Prevent Energy Wars, Revitalize the Economy and Transition to a Sustainable Future. (UK & USA, Earthscan/Routledge 2011)

Endorsements for The Renewable Revolution:

“Sajed Kamal’s book is an immensely important contribution to our understanding of what is happening to our planet and what we can do about it. He combines the careful research of the scientist with the passionate imagination of the poet.” Howard Zinn

“Kamal is the navigator we need to sail with confidence into this new century.” Bill McKibben

"Dr Kamal lives and writes a vision. It is a vision of reconciliation between humanity and the planet." Ross Gelbspan 

“Sajed Kamal’s book, The Renewable Revolution, makes an extremely compelling and accessible case for making a transition to a sustainable future in which we derive all of our energy from renewable sources. We are not only called to action, but we are provided with many paths that guide us toward a more healthy and just future. The book contains many inspiring photographs and examples of successful existing projects ranging from solar water heating at Fenway Park to solar “breeders” that use solar energy to manufacture solar panels.  One cannot read the book without being driven to action.” Mara Prentiss, Professor of Physics, Harvard University, and Author, Energy Revolution: The Physics and the Promise of Efficient Technology

“I really love this book, the language as well as the idea (and the expressive and informative pictures); the language is appealing, flowing and poetic; the idea in it is just what the world is in dire need of—we ought to be aware of the glaring fact that nonrenewable energies are doing irrevocable harm to our dear Earth, and of the inevitable truth that human beings are running out of nonrenewables. Therefore, action is needed so that the Earth can be shielded from further and expected harm and that we can still have varieties of conveniences in an environmentally friendly atmosphere.” Xu Jin, Professor, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China

"The Renewable Revolution is not just another book on alternative energies:  the author is a scientist and a poet as well.  He not only started `renewable revolution' projects in different parts of the world, he also lives what he preaches. He brings `Head and heart and hands together,' as the Swiss pioneer in education, Heinrich Pestalozzi, suggested. All this shines through in this very well written and richly illustrated book and makes it an outstanding tool in this crucial time of change." Martin Vosseler, MD, Founder of the Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) and the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), Switzerland

The Renewable Energy Transition: A Global Revolution, Climate Action & Bangladesh's Sustainable Energy Future (Samhati Publications, Bangladesh, 2022)

Endorsements for The Renewable Energy Transition:

“Dr. Sajed Kamal’s highly instructive, inspirational and timely book, The Renewable Energy Transition, is not just a valuable contribution to the literature on renewable energy but is of special relevance to those committed to rethinking Bangladesh’s energy future. The book should be read within Bangladesh and at a global level by scholars, environmental activists and policy makers responsible for realizing energy transition as well as by those engaged in responding to the threat of climate change.” Professor Rehman Sobhan, Chairman, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD, Bangladesh)

“Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to the effects both of climate change and the current development paradigm which is disastrous for the environment, forests, air and rivers. People in Bangladesh have raised the slogan: ‘Save the people, Save the Nature; No to Coal, No to Nuclear.’ Sajed Kamal, by convincingly presenting his argument that there’s an alternative—Bangladesh’s revolutionary potential for a sustainable future through renewable energy—makes the point stronger. The Renewable Energy Transition is an urgently needed book of education for action and hope.” Anu Muhammad, Professor of Economics, Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh (from the Foreword)

“The factual and scientific arguments made in this book about the needs and potentials for renewables in Bangladesh not only add force to the campaigns of the green energy warriors for clean energy but shall also leave the leaders of the country with a clear pathway to make the smartest choice for a sustainable future.” Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh; Chief Executive, BELA (Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association)

“This book is a must read for anyone concerned about Bangladesh’s future.”  Saiful Huque, PhD, Professor and Director, Institute of Energy, Dhaka University, Bangladesh

“The only way to solve any of our planet's most pressing problems is to show practical pathways, which this new book does in spades." Scott Sklar, Adjunct Professor and Sustainable Energy Director at The George Washington University Environment & Energy Management Institute (EEMI), USA

“A most inspiring book of education for action.” Greg Watson, Director of Policy and Systems Design, Schumacher Center for a New Economics, USA

Dance, Shiva, Dance! Poetry on Colonization and Liberation (Authors Press, New Delhi, India, 2024)

Endorsements for Dance, Shiva, Dance!:

“Dance, Shiva, Dance! is a beautiful compilation expressing the left-out voice from the erstwhile colonies. Nurtured by a rebel-poet mother, Sufia Kamal, Sajed Kamal is an activist, environmentalist and an acute observer of the society. He visits museums, cities, countries, immigrants, forests, conservations: ‘The world is so generous: wherever I go it gives me everything’. Then he notices pain under the facade of paint and steel. He sees indignity inflicted on people through the centuries of colonization. He parodies the manipulative slogan of ‘development’. Kamal shouts—'History doesn’t lie, Liars lie!’. He celebrates the rebels and salutes the martyrs. He mourns with the natives and calls upon the dormant people to rise: “Dance, Shiva, Dance!”. Bijoy M. Misra, PhD, Research Associate/Faculty. Department of South Asian Studies, Harvard University, Poet and President, India Discovery Center, USA

“Dance, Shiva, Dance! addresses serious global issues…It is simultaneously thought-provoking and a joy to read.” Asoka Bandarage, PhD, author, Crisis in Sri Lanka and the World: Colonial and Neoliberal Origins: Ecological and Collective Alternatives

“Dance, Shiva, Dance! leaps across cultures, gives a voice to the powerless… and provides challenges to the powerful on their own voice, self-claimed and ascribed.” Winston Langley, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and International Relations, University of Massachusetts Boston, and author, Kazi Nazrul Islam: Voice of Poetry and the Struggle for Human Wholeness

“Dance, Shiva, Dance! is a poignant cry for survival, well-being and bounty of the planet Earth and it’s human and non-human communities, endangered by an organized gang of predators, steering biocultural homogenization, cognitive colonization and destruction. It is voiced by an ecological warrior as a prayer, ‘Rudra, jat ke dakshinam mukham, ten mam pahi nityam,’ (Rudra, turn your benign face always for our protection). The protection sought by Sajed Kamal is against the collective ecological suicide invited by humanity in this Anthropocene phase, without the agency of a nuclear winter, geological cataclysm, or a comet shower. It is a prayer for continuance of the cosmic dance of creation to protect humanity from itself and the environment threatened by it.” Kalyan Chakravarthy, PhD, Former Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi (National Academy of Art), India; Member Secretary, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts; Historian, Anthropologist and author, Walking with Siva: Cognitive Roots of Indian Art, Archeology and Religion

Doves, Not Bombs: Poetry for Peace (Amazon KDP, 2024)

Endorsements for Doves, Not Bombs:

“Sajed Kamal writes about what matters most. Each poem in Doves, Not Bombs: Poetry for Peace carries the deepest wishes of humanity. Sajed Kamal writes about our universal longing for peace, for political and social justice, for food and shelter, to be cherished, to thrive, and for a green, safe planet. Well known for his work on human rights, peace work, and on developing green energy, Sajed has been writing on these and other peace-related subjects for as long as I have known him. These poems reflect his strong anti-war stance, and comment on what is happening on the global scale. Sajed Kamal writes with irony, wit, tenderness and compassion. Most of all he writes with love and hope. This book is courageous—and important.”
Kathleen Spivack, Poet and author, The Jane Poems, A History of Yearnings, Unspeakable Things and With Robert Lowell and His Circle: Sexton, Plath, Bishop, Kunitz, others.
Visiting Professor at Universite’ de Paris, American Literature and Creative Writing.

“Sajed Kamal’s poems are filled with passion for peace and, correspondingly, the futility and nihilism of war, weapons, and militarism. With succinct irony and, at times, humor, Sajed Kamal turns the logic of war and war memorials on its head, exposing the lie within. He is an alchemist who juxtaposes opposites and reconciles them with surprising consequences. Sometimes he speaks in riddles; sometimes, with laser-like directness – and always with compelling prescience. Doves, Not Bombs is a collection of poems to be loved and cited.”
H. Patricia Hynes, Board Chairperson, Traprock Center for Peace and Justice, Massachusetts
Author, Hope, but Demand Justice

“If ever the world needed the insightful poetry of Sajed Kamal, it is now. Through our electronic devices we are bombarded daily with unimaginable images of humanity’s darkest impulses. Spanning several decades, Doves Not Bombs: Poetry for Peace shows us that the harsh discordances of violence, war, and destruction are not answers for anything.
I wish I had known Sajed during our trio’s heyday in the early 1960s. We surely would have used his poems in recordings and in live concerts.
His evocative writings describe the longings and aspirations of a world struggling to sing together. The song remains unfinished, but Sajed Kamal is teaching a master class in harmony.”
Chad Mitchell, Founding member of The Chad Mitchell Trio

“These are inspiring poems. They persistently call us to awaken to the dangers we humans have created—and to awaken from the dangers we humans have created. If only everyone would begin the day reading one of these poems, if only every classroom would begin the daily exercises with one of these poems—how different life would be! Thanks so much to Sajed Kamal for his patient persistent manifestation of peace.”
Martin Schotz, MD; author, History Will Not Absolve Us: Orwellian Control, Public Denial, and the Murder of President Kennedy; and a member of the JFK Peace Speech Committee of Massachusetts Peace Action

“Having grown up in Hiroshima and lost family members in the atomic bombing of the city, Sajed Kamal’s Doves, Not Bombs bring me special power and meaning. This collection of “poetry for peace”—spanning many years and addressing so many aspects of the quest for peace—provides a wake-up call for the present, and a hope for the future. May this collection of poems be welcomed throughout the world and contribute to our efforts to establish a world living in peace.“
Mitsue Allen-Tamai, Professor, Department of English, College of Literature
Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan

TRANSLATIONS:

Kazi Nazrul Islam: Selected Works, translation of poems, songs, stories, plays, essays and speeches by the “Rebel Poet of Bengal,” Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976), the National Poet of Bangladesh, translated from Bengali (The Nazrul Institute, the national institute to preserve and publish Nazrul’s works, Bangladesh, 1999; second printing, 2000)

Mother of Pearls, selected poems of Sufia Kamal (1911-1999), recipient of the Lenin Centennial Peace Medal from the former Soviet Union and the Czechoslovakia Medal, along with more than 50 major awards from Bangladesh, for poetry and social activism, translated from Bengali (Bangla Academy, the national institute of language and literature, Bangladesh, 2001). Foreword by Prof. Elisa New, Harvard University.

Why Mustn’t I Flare Up? poetry of Kabita Chakma (Chakmas are one of the indigenous communities of Bangladesh), translated from Bengali/Changma by Sajed Kamal (Narigrantha Prabartana, Bangladesh, 2002)

Awake Beautiful Eternal Youth!, translation of a musical play by Kazi Nazrul Islam (The Nazrul Institute, Bangladesh, 2006)

The Sage in the Dust: A Bilingual Edition of Selected Poems of Rabindranath Tagore, translated from Bengali, including a detailed introduction to Tagore’s life and literature, 50 poems representing a wide range of Tagore’s poetry from his early ones to the very last one (Bangla Academy, the National Institute of Bengali Language and Literature, Bangladesh, 2012).

SELECTED ANTHOLOGIES

Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond by Carolyn Forche (Foreword), Tina Chang (Editor), Ravi Shankar (Editor), and Nathalie Handel (Editor). Sajed Kamal’s translations of poems by four post-Tagore Bengali poets—Kazi Nazrul Islam, Sufia Kamal, Shamsur Rahman and Nirmalendu Goon—are included in this anthology (W. W. Norton, USA, 2008)

The Penguin Book of Modern Indian Speeches, edited by Rakesh Batabyal. Sajed Kamal’s translation of “Deposition of a Political Prisoner” by Kazi Nazrul Islam is included in this anthology (Penguin Books India, 2007)

The Oxford India Anthology of Bengali Literature, edited by Kalpana Bardhan. Sajed Kamal’s translations of two poems by Kazi Nazrul Islam are included in this anthology (Oxford University Press, India, 2010)