Bani Basu (born 11 March 1939 bn, বাণী বসু) is a prolific

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

Indian author, essayist, critic, poet, translator and professor.

Life

She received her formal education from the well-known Lady Brabourne College,

Scottish Church College Scottish Church College is a college affiliated by Calcutta University, India. It offers selective co-educational undergraduate and postgraduate studies and is the oldest continuously running Christian liberal arts and sciences college in A ...

and at the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...

where she received M.A. in English.

Career

Basu began her career as a novelist with the publication of ''Janmabhoomi Mātribhoomi''. A prolific writer, she started her professional career as an author from 1980, first in “Anandamala”, a juvenile magazine, then in “Desh” and other periodicals of the time. She is known as a novelist, short story writer, essayist, and writings for children and teenagers. Some of her fictions have been made into films & TV Serials. The broad range of her fiction deals with gender, history, mythology, society, psychology, adolescence, music, sexual orientation, the supernatural, and more. Her major works include ''Swet Pātharer Thālā'' (A Plate of White Marble), ''Ekushe Pā'' (Turning Twenty One), ''Maitreya Jātak'' (published as ''The Birth of the Maitreya'' by Stree), ''Gāndharvi'', ''Pancham Purush'' (The Fifth Generation) and ''Ashtam Garbha'' (The Eighth Pregnancy). She also writes poetry, and translates extensively into

. She was awarded the Tarashankar Award for ''Antarghāt'' (Treason), and the

Ananda Purashkar The Ananda Puraskar () is an award for Bengali literature awarded annually by the ABP Group to writers using Bengali, usually from West Bengal, India. History The award can be traced to a comment by Annada Shankar Ray ruing the absence of liter ...

for ''Maitreya Jātak''. She is also the recipient of the Sushila Devi Birla Award and the Sahitya Setu Puraskar. In 2010 she was awarded Sahitya Academy for her contributions to Bengali literature.

Bibliography

* ''Swet Pātharer Thālā'' (1990) * ''Gāndharbi'' (1993) * ''Mohanā'' (1993) * ''Ekushe Pā'' (1994) * ''Maitreya Jātak'' (1999) * ''Upanyās Panchak'' (1999) * ''Ashtam Garbha'' (2000) * ''Antarghāt'' * ''Pancham Purush'' * ''Khanamihirer Dhipi'' (2009) *Kharap Chele *Meyeli Addar Halchal

Film and Television serial based on her Books

* Swet Patherer Thala (Film) * Gandharvi (Film and TV Serial) * Swet Patherer Thala (TV Serial) * Ekushe Pa (TV Serial) * Nandita (Tele Fim) * Mrs Gupta Ra (Tele Film) * Jakhan Chand (Tele Film) * Bhab Murti (Tele Film) * Balleygunge Court (Tele Film) * Shakhambherir Dwip (TV Serial) * Amrita (TV Serial)

Awards

* Tara Sankar Award (1991) * Sahitya Setu Chandra (1995) * Siromoni Award (1997) * Ananda Award (1997) * Bankim Award (1998) * Mahadevi Birla Award (1998) * Katha Award (2003) * Pratima Mitra Smiti Award (2007) * Kabi Kritibas Sahitya Award (2008) * Bhuban Mohini Dasi Swarna Padak, Calcutta University (2008) * Sachindra Nath Sahitya Award * Sahitya Akademi Award (2010)

References

External links

*
Meenakshi Mukherjee's essay on Bani Basu's novels
20th-century Bengalis 21st-century Bengalis Bengali writers 1939 births Living people Lady Brabourne College alumni Scottish Church College alumni University of Calcutta alumni Academic staff of the University of Calcutta Indian women novelists Indian women essayists Recipients of the Ananda Purashkar Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Bengali Writers of historical romances Women romantic fiction writers Indian historical novelists 20th-century Indian novelists 20th-century Indian women writers Women historical novelists Writers from Kolkata Women writers from West Bengal Novelists from West Bengal {{India-writer-stub