Sufia Kamal (Bangla: সুফিয়া কামাল) (June 20, 1911-November 20, 1999) was a poet, writer, organizer, feminist and activist from Bangladesh. She was born to a Muslim family in Barisal, Bangladesh. She is one of the most widely recognized cultural personalities in Bangladesh. When she died in 1999, she was buried with full state honors, the first woman in Bangladesh to receive this honor.
Sufia Kamal was born in Shaestabad, daughter of a distinguished zamindar family, in Barisal. During her childhood, women's education was prohibited and she could not afford to get academic education. But she learnt Bangla, Hindi, English, Urdu, Arabic, Kurdish and Persian language from her house tutors. In 1918, she went to Kolkata with her mother where she came to meet with Begum Rokeya. She was first married at the age of 11 to her cousin Syed Nehal Hossain, then a law student. They had a daughter, Amena Kahar, and Mr. Hossain died in 1932. Five years later, Ms. Kamal married Kamaluddin Ahmed.
In addition to her first daughter, Ms. Kamal is survived by two other daughters, Sultana Kamal and Saida Kamal; two sons, Shahed Kamal and Sajed Kamal; three grandsons, three granddaughters and four great-grandchildren.