Mandakranta Sen (born 1972) is an Indian poet of

Bengali language Bengali ( ), generally known by its endonym Bangla (, ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language native to the Bengal region of South Asia. It is the official, national, and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh and the second m ...

. She became the youngest ever winner of

Ananda Puraskar 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 lit ...

in 1999 for her very first poetry book. In 2004, she was awarded Sahitya Akademi Golden Jubilee Award for poetry. She is also a lyricist, composer, fiction writer, dramatist and cover designer. She quit medical studies to become a full-time writer.

Early life and education

Mandakranta was born in

Tollygunge Tollygunge (Bengali: টালিগঞ্জ; nicknamed 'Mini Mumbai' or 'Mini Bombay') is a locality of South Kolkata, in West Bengal, India. It is famed as the centre of the Indian film industry, known as Tollywood, Marathi Cinema, South Indi ...

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

on 15 September 1972. She completed her secondary education from Sakhawat Memorial Govt. Girls' High School and higher secondary from

Lady Brabourne College Lady Brabourne College (LBC) is an institution for women's education in Kolkata, India. The college admits undergraduates and post-graduates, and awards degrees from the University of Calcutta. It is a state government administered college and is ...

. She later went on to study

MBBS Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

at Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital from 1991-1997, but dropped out just before appearing at her final examinations. Thereafter she devoted herself fulltime to literature.

Literary works

Mandakranta is a major voice in 21st century

Bengali poetry Bengali poetry is a rich tradition of poetry in the Bengali language and has many different forms. Originating in the Bengal region of South Asia, the history of Bengali poetry underwent three successive stages of development: poetry of the ear ...

. She has achieved success in different literary genres like poetry, novel, short story and essays, although she enjoys reputation chiefly as a poet. She is among foremost Bengali writers writing on conjugal and sexual issues of women. Her poetry is regarded as

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

. Her works have been translated into English and Hindi. She has also translated poetry from English and Hindi. She has also worked as a lyricist, composer, cover designer and a magazine editor.

Awards and recognition

Mandakranta has been awarded Sahitya Akademi Golden Jubilee Award for young writer for her contributions to

. She has also won numerous other awards including

(1999), Krittibas Puraskar and ''Akash Bangla Barsha Samman'' etc. She is one of the contributors to

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...

journals. She was the youngest ever winner of

at the age of 27. She has also given poetry readings in Germany.

Controversies

In 2015 Mandakranta returned her Sahitya Akademi Award in protest against the Dadri incident and the mob attacks on writers and rationalists. In 2017 she was threatened with gang rape for standing by fellow writers who protested against

Hindutva terror Hindu terrorism, sometimes called Hindutva terror or, metonymically, saffron terror, comprises terrorist acts carried out on the basis of motivations in broad association with Hinduism. Such acts have principally been perpetrated by members, ...

Bibliography

Books in English

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Books in Bengali

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Chapters in books

Journal articles

* * * * * * * * *

Translated works

* Andhi Chhalaang (2006) in Hindi

References

External links

Mandakranka Sen
on

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sen, Mandakranta Bengali female poets Women writers from West Bengal 1972 births Living people People from Kolkata People from West Bengal Bengali writers Bengali-language writers Feminist writers Lady Brabourne College alumni Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Golden Jubilee Award Writers from Kolkata