Pratibha Ray (born 21 January 1944) is an Indian academic and writer of Odia-language novels and stories. For her contribution to the Indian literature, Ray received the

Jnanpith Award The Jnanpith Award is the oldest and the highest Indian literary award presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith to an author for their "outstanding contribution towards literature". Instituted in 1961, the award is bestowed only on Indian ...

in 2011. She was awarded the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

in 2022.

Life and career

She was born on 21 January 1944, at Alabol, a remote village in the Balikuda area of Jagatsinghpur district formerly part of

Cuttack district Cuttack district is one of the 30 districts of Odisha state in India. It is located in the coastal part of the state and its administrative headquarters are located in the city of Cuttack. As of 2011 Census, after Ganjam district, Ganjam, it is t ...

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

state. She was the first woman to win the

Moortidevi Award The Moortidevi Award is an Indian literary award annually presented by the Bharatiya Jnanpith, a literary and research organisation. The award is given only to Indian writers writing in Indian languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Con ...

in 1991. Her first novel ''Barsha Basanta Baishakha'' (1974) was a best seller. Her search for a "social order based on equality, love, peace and integration", continues, since she first penned at the age of nine. When she wrote for a social order, based on equality without class, caste, religion or sex discriminations, some of her critics branded her as a communist, and some as feminist. But she says: "I am a humanist. Men and women have been created differently for the healthy functioning of society. The specialities women have been endowed with should be nurtured further. As a human being, however, woman is equal to man." She continued her writing career even after her marriage and raising a family of three children and husband Akshay Ray who is an engineer. Her post-doctoral research was on ''Tribalism and Criminology of Bondo Highlander'', tribes of Odisha, India. She started her professional career as a school teacher, and later she taught in various government colleges in Odisha for thirty years. She has guided doctoral research and has published many research articles. She took voluntary retirement as a Professor of Education from State Government Service and joined as Member, Public Service Commission of Odisha. She has active interest in social reform and has fought against social injustice on many occasions. One important incident in her life is protesting against colour (caste/religion) discrimination by the high priests of Jagannath Temple at Puri. She is currently fighting a defamation case lodged by the priests against her for her newspaper article in which she wrote against the undesirable behaviour of the priests, titled "The Colour of Religion is Black" (''Dharmara Ranga Kala''). She works in the cyclone-affected areas after the Odisha's Super Cyclone of October 1999 and she is working for rehabilitation of the orphans and widows of Cyclone affected areas.

Travel

Ray has travelled extensively inside India to participate in various national literary and educational conferences. She visited five republics of the erstwhile USSR in 1986 in a cultural exchange programme sponsored by ISCUS. She represented India as an Indian writer in the India Fair in Australia, "India Today 94". sponsored by Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi, in 1994. She gave readings and talks on Indian literature and languages in several universities of Australia. She has also visited the US, UK and France on speaking tours, represented India as an Indian writer in the India Festival in Bangladesh in 1996, and attended the 7th International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women in the

University of Tromsø The University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway ( Norwegian: ''Universitetet i Tromsø – Norges arktiske universitet''; Northern Sami: ''Romssa universitehta – Norgga árktalaš universitehta'') is a state university in Norway a ...

, Norway, in June 1999 as an Indian delegate. She visited Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark on a speaking tour in 1999. Visited Zurich, Switzerland, in 2000 to present a paper in the Third European Conference on Gender Equality in Higher Education.

Memberships

She is a member of a number of learned societies. She is connected with the

Indian Council for Cultural Relations The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) is an autonomous organisation of the Government of India, involved in India's global cultural relations, through cultural exchange with other countries and their people. It was founded on 9 April ...

, Central Board of Film Certification, Indian Red Cross Society, India International Centre, National Book Trust of India, Central Academy of Letters etc. She has travelled extensively in India and abroad to participate in various literary and educational conferences. She has won a number of national and state awards for her creative writing.

Selected works

Novels * ''Barsa Basanta Baishakha'', 1974 * ''Aranya'', 1977 * ''Nishiddha Prithivi'', 1978 * ''Parichaya'', 1979 * ''Aparichita'', 1979. (A film was made & won Best Film-Story award from Odisha State Govt., Department of Culture) * ''Punyatoya'' the story of village girl Meghi, 1979. (Tr. To Hindi) * ''Meghamedura'', 1980 * ''Ashabari'', 1980 * ''Ayamarambha'', 1981 * ''Nilatrishna'', 1981. (Tr. to Hindi) * ''Samudrara Swara'', 1982. (Tr. to Hindi) * ''Shilapadma'', 1983. ( Odisha Sahitya Academy Award, 1985; Tr. to Assamese, Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Punjabi and English) * '' Yajnaseni'', 1984 ( Moorti Devi Award, 1991 and Sarala Award, 1990. Tr. to English, Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hungarian) * ''Dehatita'', 1986 * ''Uttaramarg'', 1988. (Tr. to Hindi & Punjabi) * ''Adibhumi'' (Tr. to Hindi & English) * ''Mahamoha'', 1998 (To be published in Hindi, Bengali & Malayalam) * ''Magnamati'', 2004 * ''Maharani Putra'', 2008 ;Travelogue * ''Maitripadapara Shakha Prashakha'' (USSR), 1990 * ''Dura Dwividha '' (UK, France), 1999 * ''Aparadhira Sweda'' (Australia), 2000 ;Short Stories * ''Samanya Kathana'' – 1978 * ''Gangashiuli'' – 1979 * ''Asamapta'' – 1980 * ''Aikatana'' – 1981 * ''Anabana'' – 1983 * ''Hatabaksa'' – 1983 * ''Ghasa O Akasa'' * ''Chandrabhaga O Chandrakala'' – 1984 * ''Shrestha Galpa'' – 1984 * ''Abyakta'' (made into a Telefilm) – 1986 * ''Itibut'' – 1987 * ''Haripatra'' – 1989 * ''Prthak Isvara'' – 1991 * Bhagavanara Desa – 1991 * ''Manushya Swara'' – 1992 * ''Sva-nirvachita SreshthaGalpa'' – 1994 * ''Sashthasati'' – 1996 * ''Moksha'' (made into a Feature Film, that received the Best Regional Film award) – 1996 * ''Ullaghna'' (Sahitya Akademi Award, 2000) – 1998 * ''Nivedanam Idam'' – 2000 * ''Gandhinka'' – 2002 * ''Jhotipaka Kantha'' – 2006

Adaptations

* Yajnaseni (play) –

Suman Pokhrel Suman Pokhrel (; born 21 September 1967) is a Nepali people, Nepali poet, lyricist, playwright, translator and artist. Universities in Nepal and India have included his poetry in their syllabi. Pokhrel is the only writer to have received the SAA ...

has rendered Ray's novel Yajnaseni as a solo play in Nepali.

Awards and recognition

* 1985 – Odisha Sahitya Academi Award' for the novel ''Sheelapadma'' * 1990 – 'Sarala Award' for the novel ''Yajnaseni'' * 1991 – '

' for the Novel ''Yajnaseni'' * 2000 – 'Sahitya Akademi Award' for the Short-Story Collection ''Ullaghna'' * 2006 – Amrita Keerti Puraskar * 2007 – '

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

Award' in Literature and Education by the Government of India. * 2011 – '

' * 2013 – Odisha Living Legend Award (Literature) * 2022 -

from Government of India for literature and education

References

External links

* http://www.pratibharay.org/
Prof. (Smt.) Pratibha Ray receives Padma Shri award in 2007 for Literature and Education, Odisha
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ray, Pratibha 1943 births Living people People from Jagatsinghpur district Recipients of the Jnanpith Award Odia short story writers Odia-language novelists Indian women academics Indian women novelists Indian women short story writers Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Odia Recipients of the Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award 20th-century Indian short story writers 20th-century Indian novelists Novelists from Odisha 21st-century Indian novelists 21st-century Indian short story writers 21st-century Indian women writers 20th-century Indian women writers Women writers from Odisha Odisha academics Women educators from Odisha Educators from Odisha Translators from English Translators of Suman Pokhrel Recipients of the Moortidevi Award Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education Recipients of the Utkal Ratna Samman