Rafiqun Nabi, widely known as Ra-Nabi, is a pre-eminent Bangladeshi artist and cartoonist. Born in 1943 in Chapainwabganj, he is celebrated as a cultural icon. Rafiqun Nabi became Ra-Nabi for his famous cartoon character “Tokai”. Loved by a wider audience for his cartoons that bring into relief social anomalies and class disparities, Rafiqun Nabi is also a printmaker and painter of high stature. Through his woodcut prints and paintings, he also speaks to a vast multitude by representing mainstream rural life of the delta. He developed an affinity to art during his school days in Old Dhaka. He enrolled at the Government College of Arts and Crafts (now Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka) and completed his bachelor’s degree in 1964. He studied under the tutelage of legendary artists like Zainul Abedin and Quamrul Hassan. He studied printmaking between 1973 and 1976 at Athens School of Fine Arts under the Greek Government’s postgraduate scholarship. He served as a faculty member of the Faculty of Fine Arts, the University of Dhaka during 1964-2010. Nabi started out as a professional cartoonist in 1963. His first contribution was to the daily Purbodesh. Later in the mid-1960s, he became a regular in Swachitra Shandhani where he used to illustrate with cartoons the column Kaal Penchar Dairy by Abdul Gani Hazari. In the late 1960s, he worked for the Weekly Express, an English periodical. In 1969, he got involved in a periodical named Forum, published by Rehman Sobhan and Hamida Hossain. He began to contribute cartoons to the weekly Bichitra and Dainik Bangla. He created the character Tokai, which first appeared in the anniversary issue of Bichitra in May 1977. Rafiqun Nabi’s awards include the Promoters Prize, Inter Graphic-80, Berlin (1980), Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Award (1989), Ekushey Padak (1993), Agrani Bank Award for Children’s Book Design (1995), and S M Sultan Padak (2002).  He received the National Book Centre prize for Children’s Book Cover Design several times between 1968 and 90. He was the first Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka. Rafiqun Nabi lives and works in Dhaka. For his contribution to the arts he was awarded Ekushe Padak in 1993.