Ahmedur Chowdhury is the publisher and editor of free speech magazine and publication Shuddhashar. He started Shuddhashar as a little magazine in 1990 and opened a publication house in 2004. He survived an assassination attempt against him by Islamist extremists in Bangladesh and currently lives in self-imposed exile. He is the winner of the Shahid Munir Chowdhury best publisher Award 2013, PEN Pinter International Writer of Courage Award 2016, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) Jeri Laber International Freedom to Publish Award 2016, and the Norwegian PEN´s Ossietzky Prize 2018. He has been invited to speak at the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Deutche Welle Media Conference, Oslo Freedom Forum, and at several international universities and literature programs.