Reputed painter from Sweden Heico Basten has just finished a portrait of Assamese storywriter, novelist, filmmaker, scholar Dr Arnab Jan Deka, which was showcased from 18^th of September 2025 at his solo painting exhibition held in Sweden. He painted this special abstract portrait as a mark of his appreciatory tribute to the Assamese author commemorating the significant milestone of the Assamese author’s completion of half a century as a published writer.

A documentary film on the Assamese author will also be premiered on this occasion, that was made in collaboration with several leading figures in literature, fine art, science, cinema, river engineering and environmental study from The Netherlands, Canada, Hungary, Sweden, USA, Italy, Great Britain, Spain and Mexico, who earlier worked in several important trans-continental projects with Dr Deka. Dutch artist Mirjam Dijk, Canadian writer, book editor, film critic and university teacher Laurinda Hartt-Fournier, Italian poet-social scientist Dr Antonietta Di Lorenzo, Romanian-origin Dutch river scientist Dr Constantin Aurel Stere, American writer Barbara Ann King, river scientist and film scriptwriter Terri Stiffler, Swedish poet Arvida Svenske and artist Heico Basten, Hungarian novelist and painter Ildiko Hilde Szabo, Boston based Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty Gwyndaf Jones, Spain based novelist and filmmaker Claire Elizabeth Terry, Mexican actress Betzabel Falfan, British sculptor and poet William West and several others evocatively spoke about their working experiences with the Assamese author and several important other aspects.

Incidentally, Dr Arnab Jan Deka’s literary journey began on 19 September 1975 when his first writing appeared in the reputed Assamese weekly ‘Asam Bani’ and he went on writing in almost all prominent English and Assamese dailies, weeklies and periodicals in Assam including The Assam Tribune, The Sentinel, Dainik Asam, Dainik Janambhumi, Dainik Agradoot, Sadin, Prantik, Goriyoshi, Assam Sahitya Sabha Patrika, Niyomiya Barta, Amar Asam and also in many leading national and international research journals. Till the completion of half a century of this unique literary journey, he authored more than one hundred fifty books, and also directed the first documentary film on Srimanta Sankardev back in 1996, which held its global premier in Atlantic City in the USA in 1997. His novels and short stories had been adapted in Bollywood, and the mega Hindi TV serial ‘Naya Kurukshetra’ based on his Assamese novel ‘Natun Kurukhetra’ telecast over Doordarshan National TV channel went on to become outstanding success enjoying repeat telecasts since 2021.

Earlier, his monumental literary contributions had been acknowledged by the iconic Aligarh Muslim University with the official launch of two English books containing literary criticism and research papers on his works as well as English translations of some of his original Assamese short stories. Legendary historian Dr Irfan Habib and Booker nominated popular British novelist Dr Simon Andrew North officially launched these books at a function attended by prominent literary figures from India and overseas, where Dr Deka was also extended public felicitations by the AMU.