New Delhi: This year, Amar Ujala’s highest word award ‘Akashdeep’ for writing and overall contribution to life will be given to eminent story writer Shekhar Joshi in Hindi and Pratibha Ray, an eminent writer of Oriya in non-Hindi languages. Born on January 21, 1943, in Jagatsinghpur, Odisha, Pratibha RaY was given this honor for enriching Indian literary culture through extraordinary Odia creation.
A professor by profession and a writer by choice, Pratibha Ray is one of the most famous fiction writers in India today. She has been writing Novels and Short stories actively in her own mother tongue Odia, for the last 45 years and is a household name in Odisha.
She did her master’s in Education and Ph.D. in Educational Psychology. Her post-doctoral research was on tribalism and criminology of Bondo Highlander, one of the most primitive tribes of Odisha, India. Having deep cultural studies she wrote a voluminous novel, paged 900 on the Bondo tribe’s life and culture. No Odia writer till today has dared to step into Bondo hills as Bondos are very aggressive and violent towards plane landers.
Formerly Professor in Education and Member, Public Service Commission, Odisha, Pratibha is one of the leading fiction writers in India. Her works have been translated into various Indian languages, English, and other foreign languages. Her thrust being psychosocial analysis, Pratibha grapples with issues of contemporary relevance, dealing with a variety of subject matters starting from mythology, history, science, tribal culture, rural and urban life, politics, and contemporary global issues. She tries to bring different levels of perception into one structure. Ray’s work is unsparing in its indictments of social evils, injustice, and corruption in narrow lanes of power and politics.
To promote Odia’s novel-writing among young writers Pratibha Ray Foundation Trust is a trust formed by the family of the eminent writer, Jnanpith laureate, PadmaBhusan Pratibha Ray. With manifold objectives, it is essentially working towards, preserving, promoting and propagating literature and cultural creations. Under its aegis, the reputed publication house, Adya Prakashani has been thriving to achieve these goals essentially working towards, preserving, promoting and propagating literature and cultural creations.
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