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Indian Poets Writing In Bengali
 Jibanananda Das, Subhas Mukhopadhyay, Sankha Ghosh, Shakti Chattopadhyay, Sunil Gangopadhyay and others

Jibanananda Das (1899-1954) --- Jibanananda Das is regarded as the greatest modern Bengali poet, as "the pioneer of the Jibananandamost refined and authentic form of modern Bengali poetry". He was born in Barisal (now in Bangladesh). Jibanananda was educated at Barisal BM College and Calcutta's Presidency College. He then worked as a teacher of English in Kolkata. In early 1930s, he was unemployed for several years, earning a meagre amount as a private tutor of school students. He briefly held teaching posts in Bagerhat and Delhi before returning to Barisal. He was a teacher in the B.M. College in Barisal from 1934 to 1947. This was probably the most productive period of his literary life. After the partition of India in 1947, he returned to Kolkata. In Kolkata again he had to face unemployment for several years before getting a post of lecturer in the Howrah Girls' College in 1953. He died in 1954, being struck by a tram. He was the prime experimenter in establishing 'surrealism' and 'existentialism' in Bengali poetry. Sometimes he is profound, introspective and soul-searching and sometimes he explores distant horizons, crossing the boundaries. His poetry has the intensity and splendour of a questful life, expressed through unique symbols, imagery and metaphors.  His major works include Jhara Palak (Fallen Feathers), 1927,  Dhusar Pandulipi (Grey Manuscript), 1936,  Banalata Sen, 1942,  Mahaprithibi (Great Universe), 1944,  Saaat-ti Tarar Timir (Darkness of The Seven Stars), 1948,  Rupasi Bangla (Beautiful Bengal), written in 1934, published posthumously in 1957, Bela Abela Kalbela (Times, Bad Times, End Times), 1961,  Aloprithibi (The World of Light), 1984 and Shreshtha Kavita. After the poet had left the mortal frame, Shreshtha Kavita received the Sahitya Akademi award (1955). Jibanananda celebrated the natural beauty and the rural life of Bengal. At the same time, he had an acute awareness of the evanescence of the soul, of death and decomposition. His poems have a lyrical beauty that have very few parallels in Bengali literature, and to many, his stature as a poet is second only to Tagore. His later poems, written in the 1940s and early 50s, have far more complex character. The Second World War, the Bengal famine of 1943, the Hindu-Muslim riots, and the partition of India, all have reflections in his later poems. His humanism, his love of nature, and his observations about the failures of the human civilisation, gradually evolved into a style that relentlessly laments the human costs of modern civilisation. His later poems have a lot of comments about socio-political issues and the crisis of the human civilisation during and after the Second World War. Jibanananda was an active observer of the society and its ills and inequities. He wrote about one hundred short stories and more than a dozen novels, but all of them remained unpublished in his life-time. By 2005, most of his stories and novels have been published. He also wrote fifty volumes of diaries, and only small parts of them have been published. The publication of the prose writings have considerably widened the range of his literary contributions.

Buddhadeva Bose (1908-74) --- Buddhadeva Bose is a poet, who also wrote novels, short stories, plays (in both prose and verse), and non-fictional prose such as travelogues, memoirs, and literary essays. He was also an editor-publisher, a translator, a writer for children, and a consummate critic. He was born in Comilla (now in Bangladesh) and grew up in Noakhali and Dhaka. He studied English Literature at Dhaka University. He taught for a good part of his life, and set up the Department of Comparative Literature at Jadavpur University, Calcutta.  In 1935 he founded the poetry quarterly Kabita,  which he edited for a quarter-century. Prithibir Prati (1933), Kankabati, Damayanti (1943), Draupadeer Shari (1948) and Shiter Parthana, Basanter Uttar (1955) are some of his books.

Bishnu Dey (1909-1982) --- Bishnu Dey was a contemporary of Buddhadeva Bose. Some of his important books are --- Urvashi O Artemis (1932), Chora Bali (1938), Purba Lekh (1940), Sandiper Char (1947), Annishta (1950) and Naam Rekhechi Komal Gandhar (1950). He was honoured with Sahitya Akademi award (1965) and Jnanpith award (1971) for his collection of poetry Smriti Satta Bhabishyat.

Arun Mitra (1909 - 2000) --- Arun Mitra was born at Jessore, now in Bangladesh. From 1931 to 1942, he worked as a journalist in Anandabazar Patrika. After Anandabazar, he joined Arani. He went to France in 1948. On retiring to India, he joined Allahabad University as a Professor. From 1972 onwards, he settled at Calcutta. He has written many poems in prose-poem pattern.  He received the Rabindra Puraskar in 1979 for Shudhu Rater Shabda Nay and the Sahitya Akademi award for his book Khujte Khujte Eto Door . He was honoured with the D Litt. from Rabindra Bharati University in 1990. In 1992, the French Government conferred on him the Legion de 'onour, the highest award of France.

Subhas Mukhopadhyay (1919-2003) --- Subhas Mukhopadhyay was born in Krishnanagar, Nadia, West Bengal. Some of his notable works of poems are  Padatik, Agnikona, Jato Durei Jai,  Kal Madhumas, Ya Re Kagagera Nauka, Dharmera Kala and Ekabara Bidaya De Ma expressed his feelings of disillusionment with his characteristic grace. He received many awards and honours, which include the Sahitya Akademi award, 1964, Afro-Asian Lotus Prize, 1977,  Kumaran Asan Award, 1982,  Mirzo Tursun Zade Prize (USSR), 1982,  Ananda Puraskar, 1991, Soviet Land Nehru Prize and Bharatiya Jnanpith Award, 1991. He was conferred Deshikottama by the Viswa Bharati, Santiniketan.

Birendra Chattopaddhay (1920-1985) --- Birendra Chattopaddhay is the author of several books. Some of his notable poetic works are Ulukhagrer Kabita, Mrityuttirna and Lakhinder.

Nirendranath Chakravarti (b. 1924) --- Nirendranath Chakravarti is a poet, critic, fiction writer and journalist. He worked with the Anand Bazar Patrika. Among his works are Nil Nirjan and Ulanga Raja. Nirendranath Chakravarti has received the Sahitya Akademi award (1974) for his Ulanga Raja (Poetry). Among other awards are the Tarashankar Literary award and Anand Puraskar.

Sankha Ghosh (b. 1932) --- Sankha Ghosh was born in 1932 at Chandpur (now in Bangladesh). He got his Master's degree from the Calcutta University in 1954. He taught at different colleges till 1965. Thereafter he joined the Jadavpur University from where he retired in 1992. In between, he had spent time at the Iowa Writer's Workshop, USA (1967-68), Delhi University, Indian Institute of Advanced Studies at Shimla, Vishwabharati, and as Principal of the Rabindra-Bhavan at Shantiniketan. He has published some 60 volumes so far, including about 16 volumes of poetry. He has also authored critical works on Tagore and on poetics, rhymes, and even on spelling. He has received many awards including Narsingh Das Puraskar (1977, for Muurkha Bado, Saamaajik Nay), Sahitya Akademi award (1977, for Baabarer Praarthanaa), Rabindra-Puraskar (1989, for Dhum Legechhe Hrithkamale),  Akademi award for translation (1999, for translation of Raktakalyaan). He has been conferred the title of Desikottam by Vishwabharati in 1999.

Shakti Chattopaddhay (1933 -1995) --- Shakti Chattopaddhay worked with the Anand Bazar Patrika.  Some of his well-known works of poetry are  Hey Prema, Hey Naishabda, Sonar Machhi Khun Karechhi, Dharme Achi, Jirafeo Achi and  Jete Pari Kintu Keno Jabo.  He received the Sahitya Akademi award (1983) and Anand Puraskar (1983).

Alokeranjan Dasgupta (b. 1933) --- Alokeranjan Dasgupta taught comparative literature and Bengali at Jadavpur University and later went to Germany on a Humboldt Foundation Fellowship. He has been teaching New Indology at the South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg. Among his collections of poems in Bengali are Jauban Baul, Nisidhha Kojagori, Ekhono Nameni Bandhu, Nuclear Shiter Godhuli, Tushar Jure Trishul Chinho and Marami Karat. Alokeranjan has also done many translations of Indian literature into German and European literature into Bengali. He has received many awards and honours including the Goethe Prize (in Germany, 1985), Rabindra-Puraskar (1987), Ananda-Puraskar (1985), Sudha Basu award from the Calcutta University (1983) and the Sahitya Akademi award in 1992 for his book of poems Marami Karat (translated as The Mystical Saw and Other Poems).

Sunil Gangopadhyay (b. 1934) ---- Sunil Gangopadhyay was born at Faridpur (now in Bangladesh). He worked with the Ananda Bazar group, a major publishing house in Calcutta. Author of well over 200 books, Sunil has written in different genres, but declares poetry to be his "first love". Sunil was the founder editor of Krittibaas, a seminal poetry magazine that became a platform for a new generation of poets experimenting with many new forms in poetic themes, rhythms, and words. Among his works of poetry are Amar Swapna, Hathat Neerar Janya, and Kavyasangraha ( in two volumes). Sunil has also written fiction. Arjun, Pratidwandi,  Aranyer Din-Raatri, Ekaa Ebang Kayekjan, Sei Samay and Pratham Alo are some of his well known works of fiction. His historical fiction Sei Samay received the Sahitya Akademi award in 1985. Other honours include Anand Puraskar, Bankim Puraskar and Saraswati Samman.

Nabaneeta Dev Sen (b.1938) : Nabaneeta Dev Sen is a versatile writer of poems, short stories, novels, features, and essays. She was a Professor of Comparative Literature at Jadavpur University in Calcutta. Some of her well-known works are Bama-bodhini, Nati Nabanita, Srestha Kabita and Sita Theke Suru. She has received many awards including the Gouridevi Memorial Award, Mahadevi Verma Award, 1992,  Celli Award from Rockefeller Foundation, 1993,  Sarat Award from Bhagalpur University,1994,  Prasad Puraskar, Kabir Samman, Samskriti Award and Sahitya Akademi Award, 1999. She has received the Padma Shree  in 2000.  She is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Vice President of the Indian National Comparative Literature Association.

Joy Goswami (b.1954) --- Joy Goswami is the author of twenty-five collections of poetry, ten novels (one of which is in verse), and a book of critical essays. The works of Joy Goswami include Christmas O Sheeter Sonnet Guchha , Pratnajeeb , Aleya Hrad , Unmader Pathakram, Bhutum Bhagaban , Ghumiecho Jhaupata?, Aaj Jadi Amake Jigyesh Karo , Golla , Pagli, Tomar Sange , Bajra Bidyut-bharti Khata , Pakhi, Hoossh,  Oh, Swapno! and Surjo Porhaa Chhaai.  He currently works, in an editorial assignment,  with the  Anandabazaar Patrikaa Ltd., Kolkata. For his work Pagli Tomar Sange (Poetry),  Joy Goswami received the Sahitya Akademi award (2000). Other awards include the Ananda Purashkar and the West Bengal Academy Award.

Anita Agnihotri (1956) --- Anita Agnihotri is a  civil servant by profession, borne in the Orissa cadre of the Indian Administrative Service. She has published several works of poetry and fiction. Two of Anita's books have been released in English — Forest Interludes and Those Who Had Known Love. While the former is a collection that has short stories, essays, and a novella, the latter is a lyrical novel.

Anuradha Mahapatra (b. 1957) --- Anuradha Mahapatra grew up in a small village in Midnapore district of west Bengal and later moved to Kolkata (Calcutta). She studied Bengali literature at Calcutta University and in the years since has worked at various editorial jobs, done freelance writing, has worked for the Uprooted Toilers' Rights Association, and has taught the children of pavement dwellers. She also has published several collections of poems since the early 1980's. Another Spring, Darkness is a selection of Anuradha's poems translated into English by Carolyne Wright with Paramita Banerjee and Jyotirmoy Datta (Calyx Books, 1996).

Subodh Sarkar (1957) --- Subodh Sarkar was born in 1958 at Krishnagar, West Bengal. He teaches English at City College, Kolkata. He has 16 books to his credit - 13 of poems, 2 of translations and one a travelogue. Subodh has been editing Bhashanagar, a Bangla magazine with occasional English issues. He was honoured with the West Bengal Bangla Academy Award, 2000.

Mallika Sengupta (1960) --- Mallika Sengupta has a Masters degree in Sociology. She teaches Sociology at Maharani Kasiswari College, Kolkata. She has authored 18 books - 13 of poetry in Bengali, 2 novels, one translation (from Hindi) and 2 books on Sociology of gender. She has also edited an anthology of Bengali Women's poetry. She has been honoured with several awards, including Sukanto Puraskar, 1998, Junior Writer's fellowship (awarded by Government of India)1997-99 and West Bengal Bangla Akademi Anita-Sunil Basu Puraskar, 2004.

Chaitali Chattopadhyay --- Chaitali Chattopadhyay  works in an advertising agency. She has published three collections of poetry. Chaitali has received several awards and honours including the  Bishnu Dey Puraskar (1991) and the Udaya Bharati National Award (1994).

Mandakranta Sen (1972) --- Mandakranta Sen dropped out of MBBS programme at Kolkata Medical College, to pursue her "passion for poetry." Her published works include Hriday Abadhya Meye (1999), Balo Anya Bhabe (2000), Chhadma Puran, Utsarito Alo (2001), Esabe-I Rater Chinha, Akashbhara Bandhutara (2002), Barshaphalake Gantha Har, Kavya Sangraha (2004 all poetry including one verse drama), Jhanpatal (2000), Dalchhut (2002), Sahabasthan (2003), Rituchakra, Andhakar Samudrer Niche (2004 all novels) and Galper Boi (2001, a collection of short stories). She has received Ananda Puraskar (1999), Akash Bangla Barsha Samman (2002) and Krittibas Puraskar (2003). She was also awarded the Young Writer award by Sahitya Akademi in 2003.