Ataul Karim practiced creative writing in high school. A large number of his popular science writings in Bengali appeared in Biggyan Shamoeeki and Bangla Academy Biggyan Patrika during 1972–1976. Of these, the most significant were Biborthon Kahinee, a series of articles on cosmic and biological evolution, and Shamproteek, a monthly feature of current affairs in science, both of which appeared in Biggyan Shamoeeki. By the second year of his bachelor's degree in 1974, he had completed his first book manuscript which he submitted to Bangla Academy for publication. After about two years, the Academy informed him that it was not prepared to take a chance on its juvenile author. This episode troubled him deeply ending his creative writing efforts in Bengali. All his subsequent books and articles were written in English and all were published from outside of Bangladesh.