Mashiul Alam was born in Joypurhat, Bangladesh. After earning a postgraduate degree in journalism from the Peoples’ Friendship University of Moscow in 1993, he returned home and began his career in journalism. He worked for an extended period in the editorial departments of the Dhaka-based dailies Banglabazar Patrika, Bhorer Kagoj, and Prothom Alo. He is currently the editor of a literary and cultural periodical titled Mizanur Rahmaner Traimasik Patrika (Mizanur Rahman’s Quarterly Journal). He began writing in the mid-1980s, and his first short story collection, Rupali Rui O Onnanyo Golpo (Silver Carp and Other Stories), was published in 1994. Among his notable collections and novels are Mangser Karbar (The Meat Market),  Pakistan, Tonushrir Shonge Dwitiyo Raat (Second Night with Tonushree), Ghoramasud, Zubovsky Boulevard, and Jevabe Nai Hoye Gellam (How I Ceased to Be). His 2024 book The Meat Market: Ten Stories and a Novella, published by Westland Books (India), gained particular attention. Among the works he has translated, notable titles include Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel Notes from Underground (translated into Bengali as Tolkuthurir Korcha), Nirih (The Meek One), and Anna Dostoyevskaya’s memoir My Dostoevsky (Amar Dostoevsky in Bengali). His translation of Notes from Underground from Russian won the 2023 Panjeri-BTF Best Translated Book of the Year award. His short story “Dudh” (“Milk”), translated by Shabnam Nadiya, won the Best Story award at the Himal Southasian Short Story Competition in 2019. He also received the Sylhet Mirror Literary Award in 2019 and the IFIC Bank Literary Award in 2020. Mashiul Alam was a resident fellow at the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program.