Dhaka: The Ekushey Padak winning novelist Shawkat Ali dies at a hospital in Dhaka on Thursday morning. He was 82.

Journalist Asif Shawkat Kollon, son of the renowned novelist, said his father breathed his last at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) in Dhaka around 8:15am.

On January 4, Shawkat Ali was admitted to Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Lab Aid Hospital with a lung infection and kidney and heart ailments. He has been put on life support on January 6.

Later, the author was shifted to BSMMU.

Meanwhile, President Abdul Hamid expressed profound shock at the death of author Shawkat Ali.

Shawkat Ali was honored with Bangla Academy Award in 1968 and Ekushey Padak in 1990.

He also received Philips Literary Award in 1986 and 1989, Lekhak Shibir Medal in 1978, Ajit Guha Literary Prize in 1982.

Born on February 12, 1936 at Raiganj in Dinajpur of West Bengal, the author has contributed to Bengali fiction for the last four decades.

His novels include Jatra, Prodoshe Prakritojon, Dakkhinayaner Din and Uttarer Khep — occupy a major part of Bengali Literature. Of them, Uttarer Khep was adapted into a film.