Jayanta Mahapatra (born 22 October 1928) is an

Indian English Indian English (IE) is a group of English dialects spoken in the republic of India and among the Indian diaspora. English is used by the Indian government for communication, along with Hindi, as enshrined in the Constitution of India. ...

poet. He is the first Indian poet to win a

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...

award for English poetry. He is the author of poems such as "Indian Summer" and "Hunger", which are regarded as classics in modern Indian English literature. He was awarded a

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

, the fourth highest civilian honour in India in 2009. He returned the award in 2015 to protest against rising intolerance in India.

Indian Poets Trio

Mahapatra was part of a trio of poets who laid the foundations of Indian English Poetry, which included A. K. Ramanujan and

R. Parthasarathy Rajagopal.Parthasarathy (born 1934) is an Indian poet, translator, critic, and editor. Early life and education Rajagopal Parthasarathy was born on 20 August 1934 in Tirupparaiturai near Tiruchchirappalli. He was educated at Don Bosco High Sch ...

. He differed from others in not being a product of Bombay school of poets. Over time, he has managed to carve a quiet, tranquil poetic voice of his own, different from those of his contemporaries.

Early life and education

Born into a prominent Odia Christian family, Mahapatra went to Stewart School in

Cuttack Cuttack (, or officially Kataka ) in Odia is the former capital and the second largest city in the Indian state of Odisha. It is the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised form of ''Kataka'' which literally ...

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

. He completed his M. Sc. in Physics from Patna University,

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

. He began his teaching career as a lecturer in physics in 1949 and taught at various government colleges in Odisha including Gangadhar Meher College, Sambalpur, B.J.B College, Bhubaneswar, Fakir Mohan College, Balasore and Ravenshaw College, Cuttack. He superannuated at Ravenshaw College, Cuttack (now Ravenshaw University) and retired from his government job as the Reader in Physics in 1986. Web page titled "Jayanta Mahapatra's Profile" at the

Muse India ''Muse India'' is a literary e-journal based in Hyderabad, India. Since 2005, it has appeared bi-monthly in a web edition; it has no print version. In June 2017, Muse India was approved by the UGC as a literary e-journal. Its founder and manag ...

Web site, accessed 16 October 2007 He began his writing career in the late sixties. His short stories and poems were initially rejected by several publishers, until his poems were published in international literary journals. He was invited to participate in the International Writing Program at Iowa, which brought him international exposure.

Literary works

Mahapatra has authored 27 books of poems, of which seven are in

Odia Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to: * Odia people in Odisha, India * Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family * Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...

and the rest in English. His poetry volumes include ''Relationship'', ''Bare Face'' and ''Shadow Space''. Besides poetry, he has experimented widely with myriad forms of prose. His published books of prose include ''Green Gardener'', an anthology of short stories and ''Door of Paper: Essay and Memoirs''. Mahapatra is also a distinguished editor and has been bringing out the literary magazine, ''Chandrabhaga''. His poems have appeared in prestigious poetry anthologies like '' The Dance of the Peacock: An Anthology of English Poetry from India'', published by Hidden Brook Press,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. Mahapatra has also translated from Odia into English, and some of his translations are published in the bi-monthly literary magazine ''

Indian Literature Indian literature refers to the literature produced on the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and in the Republic of India thereafter. The Republic of India has 22 officially recognised languages. The earliest works of Indian literature were ...

''. Some anthologies of his translations have also been published.

Awards, recognition and legacy

In 1981 Jayanta Mahapatra won

award for his poetry book ''Relationships''. He became the first ever writer in English language to win Sahitya Akademi award. He is also a recipient of the

Jacob Glatstein Jacob Glatstein (1896–1971) yiddish יעקב גלאטשטיין was a Polish-born American poet and literary critic who wrote in the Yiddish language. His name is also spelled Yankev Glatshteyn or Jacob Glatshteyn. Early life Glatstein was bor ...

memorial award conferred by ''Poetry'' magazine,

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. He was also awarded the Allen Tate Poetry Prize for 2009 from ''

The Sewanee Review ''The Sewanee Review'' is an American literary magazine established in 1892. It is the oldest continuously published quarterly in the United States. It publishes original fiction and poetry, essays, reviews, and literary criticism. History ''T ...

''. He received the SAARC Literary Award, New Delhi, 2009. He has also received Tata Literature Lifetime Achievement Award. He was conferred with a

in 2009 and awarded an honorary doctorate by

Ravenshaw University Ravenshaw University, formerly known as Ravenshaw college, is a co-educational state university situated in Cuttack, Odisha on the eastern coast of India. Founded as Ravenshaw College in 1868, the institution became a university in 2006. The un ...

on 2 May 2009. He was also awarded a D. Lit. degree by

Utkal University Utkal University (UU) is a Public university in Bhubaneswar, Khordha district, Khordha, Odisha, and is the oldest university in Odisha, the state, and the 17th-oldest university in India. It is a teaching-cum-affiliating university. The pre ...

in 2006. In May 2019 he became the first ever Indian English poet to become a Fellow of the

Interview

* “The Hindu: Jayanta Mahapatra - A doyen of Indian-English poetry”''

Poetry readings

;Outside India * University of Iowa, Iowa City, 1976 * University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, 1976 * University of the South, Sewanee, 1976 * East West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1976 * Adelaide Festival of Arts, Adelaide, 1978 * P.E.N. Centre, Sydney, 1978 * Australian National University, Canberra, 1978 * International Poets Conference, Tokyo, 1980 * Asian Poets Conference, Tokyo, 1984

Books by Jayanta Mahapatra

;Poetry * 1971: ''Close the Sky Ten by Ten'', Calcutta: Dialogue PublicationsBibliography in Land by Jayanta Mahapatra. Authorspress 2013 * 1971: ''Svayamvara and Other Poems'', Calcutta:

Writers Workshop Writers Workshop is a Kolkata-based literary publisher founded by the Indian poet and scholar Purushottama Lal in 1958. It has published many new Indian authors of post-independence urban literature. Many of these authors later became widely k ...

* 1976: ''A Father's Hours'', Delhi: United Writers * 1976: ''A Rain of Rites'', Georgia: University of Georgia Press * 1979: ''Waiting'', Pune : Samkaleen Prakashan * 1980: ''The False Start'', Bombay: Clearing House * 1980: ''Relationship'', New York: Greenfield Review Press *2017: ''Collected Poems'', Mumbai: Paperwall Publishing Prose * 1997: ''The Green Gardener'', short stories, Hyderabad: Orient Longman * 2006: ''Door of Paper: Essay and Memoirs'', New Delhi: Authorspress * 2011: ''Bhor Moitra Kanaphula'' (Odia), Bhubaneswar : Paschima Publications Poetry in Odia * 1993: ''Bali'' (The Victim), Cutack: Vidyapuri * 1995: ''Kahibe Gotiye Katha'' (I'll Tell A Story), Arya Prakashan * 1997: ''Baya Raja'' (The Mad Emperor), Cuttack: Vidyapuri * 2004: ''Tikie Chhayee'' (A Little Shadow), Cuttack : Vidyapuri * 2006: ''Chali'' (Walking), Cuttack: Vidyapuri * 2008: ''Jadiba Gapatie'' (Even If It's A Story), Cuttack: Friends Publishers * 2011: ''Smruti Pari Kichhiti'' (A Small Memory), Cuttack: Bijayini Translations into English * 1973: ''Countermeasures: Poems'', Calcutta : Dialogue * 1976: ''Wings of the Past: Poems'', Calcutta : Rajasree * 1981: ''Song of Kubja and Other Poems'', New Delhi : Samkaleen * 1994: ''I Can, But Why Should I Go: Poems'', New Delhi :

* 1996: ''Verticals of Life: Poems'', New Delhi :

* 1998: ''Tapaswini: a Poem'', Bhubaneswar : Odisha Sahitya Akademi * 2001: ''Discovery and other Poems'', Kolkata :

* 2003: ''A Time of Rising (Poems)'', New Delhi : Har-Anand Publishers

Awards

* Kanhaiya Lal Sethia Award for Poetry - 2017 (Jaipur Literature Festival) * RL Poetry Lifetime Achievement Award for Poetry, 2013,

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern Indi ...

. * Second Prize – ''International Who's Who in Poetry'',

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, 1970. * Jacob Glatstein Memorial Award – Poetry,

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, 1975. * Visiting Writer – International Writing Program,

Iowa City Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...

1976–77. * Cultural Award Visitor,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, 1978. * Japan Foundation – Visitor's Award,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, 1980.

Appearances in the following poetry Anthologies

* ''A New Book of Indian Poems In English'' (2000) ed. by Gopi Kottoor and published by Poetry Chain and

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commer ...

* ''Ten Twentieth-Century Indian Poets'' (1976) ed. by

and published by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Hous ...

Notes

External links

Jayanta Mahapatra's Official Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahapatra, Jayanta 1928 births Living people Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in English Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education Recipients of the Gangadhar National Award Poets from Odisha Indian male poets English-language poets from India Odia-language poets 21st-century Indian poets International Writing Program alumni 20th-century Indian poets 20th-century Indian male writers 21st-century Indian male writers Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship