Nabanita Dev Sen

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Nabanita Dev Sen at the International Kolkata Book Fair 2013

Nabanita Dev Sen ( Bengali নবনীতা দেবসেন Nabanītā Debsen ; born January 13, 1938 in Kolkata ; † November 7, 2019 ibid) was a Bengali author who also taught literature at universities . She published not only poetry , short stories , novels and essays , but also plays , humoristic and children's books . More than 80 books by her have been published in Bengali, and numerous works have been translated into English . She was the founder and president of the Association of Women Authors and the Association of Creative Women Soi in West Bengal and headed the West Bengal branch of PEN India.

Study and writing

Nabanita Dev Sen graduated from Jadavpur University in Kolkata with a Master of Arts degree in 1958 . In 1961 she received another Masters in Comparative Literature from Harvard University and in 1964 a Ph.D. from Indiana University in the same subject. She then received several fellowships , including at the University of California at Berkley .

Nabanita Dev Sen is considered one of the most versatile authors in modern India. Her writing is characterized by a unique form of expression across all literary genres and combines humor and distance with a high level of sensitivity. Her academic work is also widely recognized. Nabanita Sen's prizes include the Gouridevi Memorial Award , the Mahadevi Varma Award, which she received in 1992, the Celli Award from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1993, and the Sarat Award from Bhagalpur University in Bihar, which she received in 1994 , the Prasad Puraskar and the Sahitya Akademi Award 1999. In 2017 she received the Big Little Book Award for best Bengali author in the field of children's and youth literature .

The first book Nabanita Dev Sen published was a volume of poetry entitled Pratham Pratyay in 1959 . Her best-known works include the books Bama-Bodhini , Sita Theke Shuru , and Nati Nabanita .

Private life

Nabanita Dev Sen's mother, Radharani Devi, was also a poet who was widowed as a minor and married a man of her choice, Narendra Dev, also a poet, at the age of 28. Nabanita Dev Sen described her mother as "empowered" in an interview. They themselves have long lived a life according to the ideas of others - first to those of their parents, then to where her husband Amartya Sen . Her mother's wishes in particular played a decisive role in her life for a long time. Only after the divorce of their marriage in 1971 did she begin to live according to her own ideas. However, her poor health is now imposing limits on her. She made it possible for her two daughters, Nananda Sen and Antara Dev Sen , to live independently and according to their own will. According to Nabanita Dev Sens, these family relationships, which are characterized by strong women, are reflected in her letter.

Individual evidence

  1. Nabanita Deb Sen, Padma Shri Award Winning Poet, Dies In Kolkata. In: News Nation. Retrieved November 7, 2019 .
  2. Nabaneeta Dev Sen. Soi creative women, accessed on February 25, 2018 (English).
  3. Nabaneeta Dev Sen. Blackbird Journal of Literature and the Arts, 2009, accessed on February 25, 2018 .
  4. Nabaneeta Dev Sen, 1938-. Library of Congress New Delhi Office, accessed February 25, 2018 .
  5. PTI: Bengali writer Nabaneeta Dev Sen Honored with Big Little Book Award. The Tribune India, November 20, 2017, accessed February 25, 2018 .
  6. Nabaneeta Dev Sen. Big little Book award, accessed on February 25, 2018 (English).
  7. Abimanyu Nagarajan: Ours was a family of strong women. The Telegraph India, March 8, 2013, accessed February 25, 2018 .
  8. Nabaneeta Dev Sen (b. 1938). Parabaas.com, accessed February 25, 2018 .