Shahidullah Kaiser was a famous journalist and novelist. He was born on 16th February, 1927 in the Majupur village of Feni district in Bangladesh. His original name was Abu Nayeem Mohammad Shahidullah. His father was Maulana Mohammad Habibullah. His younger brother, Zahir Raihan, was a novelist, filmmaker and writer. Shahidullah Kaiser married Zohra Khatun, a Communist Party activist and daughter of minister and physician R. Ahmed of West Bengal. After the break-up of this marriage, he married Panna Chowdhury in 1969.

He studied at Presidency College, Kolkata and obtained a Bachelors degree in Economics with honours. Later, he enrolled in Masters of Arts at Calcutta University but did not finish getting the degree.

He started his career as a journalist in 1949 with the Ittefaq in Dhaka. In 1958, Kaiser joined as an associate editor of the Daily Sangbad - a Bangla language daily - where he worked for the rest of his life.

As a student, he participated in various social, cultural and political movements. Following the formation of Pakistan in 1947, he became a member of the provincial Communist Party of East Pakistan. He participated actively in the Language Movement. For his political role in the movement for protection of Bangla language, Kaiser was arrested on 3rd June, 1952. He was later jailed for three and a half years. Right after his release in 1955, he was again arrested and jailed on a political crackdown on activists. A few years later he was released. When the Military coup of 1958 put Ayub Khan in power, and martial law was proclaimed, Kaiser was arrested again on 14th October, 1958 and remained in jail for four years till his release in September 1962.

Shahidullah Kaiser was also a novelist of note. He came into the limelight with "Sareng Bau" at 1962, which deals with the human fight for existence.

Some of his important works are:

• Sareng Bau (The Captain's Wife, 1962)
• Sangshaptak (The Indomitable Soldiers, 1965)
• Krishnachura Megh (Krishnachura Clouds)
• Timir Balay (The Circle of Darkness)
• Digante Phuler Agun (The Flaming Horizon)
• Samudra O Trisna (Sea and Thirst)
• Chandrabhaner Kanya (Chandrabhan's Daughter)
• Kabe Pohabe Bibhabari (When Will It Dawn - unfinished)
• Rajbandir Rojnamacha (The Diary of a Political Prisoner, 1962)
• Peshwar Theke Tashkhand (From Peshwar to Tashkent, 1966)

Achievements:

• Adamjee Literary Award, 1962
• Bangla Academy Award, 1962

At the end the Liberation War of Bangladesh, the Pakistan Army and its local collaborators initiated a plan for killing the leading Bangali intellectuals. As a part of it, Kaisar was rounded up on 14th December, 1971. He never returned, nor was his body found. It is assumed that he was executed along with other intellectuals. His brother, Zahir Raihan, a notable film-maker, also disappeared while searching for Kaisar.