Prativa Ray

 

The 78-year-old writer, who has earlier won prestigious awards like Jnanpith, Moortidevi and Saptarshi for her literary exploits is among the boldest writers in India whose writings in Odia language bring out her desire for a social order based on equality, love, peace, non-violence and emotional integration. Daughter of a school principal, Ray caught the attention with her first novel Barsha Basanta Baishakha (Rain, spring and summer) in 1974, that was set in a rural ambience.
By mid-eighties she was already established as a leading writer in Odia with novels like Parichaya (An identity – 1978), Punyatoya (The Hallowed River – 1978), Asabari (The rhythm asabari, 1980), Nilatrushna (The Blue Thirst, 1981), Sila Padma (The Stone Lotus, 1983), Uttarmarga (The Salvation Way-1988) and Adibhumi (The Primal Land / The Primitive Land – 1993). Prativa worked first as a headmistress of a tribal school and then as a professor in a college. She churned out 21 novels, 24 short story collections, 10 travelogues, 2 books of thought-provoking essays and an autobiography titled “Amrit Anwesha” (In search of Nectar).

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