Panna Naik (born 28 December 1933) is an Indian

Gujarati language Gujarati (; gu, ગુજરાતી, Gujarātī, translit-std=ISO, label=Gujarati script, ) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Indian state of Gujarat and spoken predominantly by the Gujarati people. Gujarati is descended from Old Guj ...

poet and story writer who has lived in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, United States since 1960. Working in the local university, she wrote poetry drawn from the world around her. Her book ''Pravesh'' (1975) received critical acclaim and she has published several poetry collections since.

Life

Panna Naik was born on 28 December 1933 in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the '' de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the sec ...

(now Mumbai) to Dhirajlal Modi and Ratanben. Her grandfather Chhaganlal Modi (1857-1946) was an education inspector for

Baroda State Baroda State was a state in present-day Gujarat, ruled by the Gaekwad dynasty of the Maratha Confederacy from its formation in 1721 until its Instrument of Accession, accession to the newly formed Dominion of India in 1949. With the city of Ba ...

and had written the popular historical fiction, ''Irawati''. Her family were from

Surat Surat is a city in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The word Surat literally means ''face'' in Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of the river Tapti near its confluence with the Arabian Sea, it used to be a large seaport. It is no ...

. Her mother Ratanben had recited her Gujarati and Sanskrit religious and secular poems which made her interested in poetry. She completed her B.A. in 1954 and her M.A. in 1956 with Gujarati and Sanskrit from St. Xaviers College affiliated with the

University of Bombay The University of Mumbai is a collegiate, state-owned, public research university in Mumbai. The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. Ratan Tata is the appointed ...

(now University of Mumbai). In 1960, she moved to the United States as a bride. She completed

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast ...

Library Science Library science (often termed library studies, bibliothecography, and library economy) is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and ...

from

Drexel University Drexel University is a private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a financier and philanthropist. Founded as Drexel Institute of Ar ...

, in 1962 and M.S. in South Asian Studies from

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universit ...

, Philadelphia, in 1973. She served as a

bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...

and librarian at the

Van Pelt Library The Charles Patterson Van Pelt Library (also known as the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center, and simply Van Pelt) is the primary library at the University of Pennsylvania. The building was designed by architects Harbeson, Hough, Livingston & Lars ...

in the University of Pennsylvania from 1964 to 2003 and as professor of Gujarati from 1985 to 2002. Her husband Nikul Naik died in 2004. In 2015, she was romantically involved with accountant Natwar Gandhi.

Poetry

Panna's poetry depicts the feelings of a woman living in the modern city and a foreign country focusing on "Survival, Identity and Alienation". She also captures her relationship with men, the confusions of married life, hopes and afflictions in her poems which are considered as feminist in nature. She is influenced by American poet

Anne Sexton Anne Sexton (born Anne Gray Harvey; November 9, 1928 – October 4, 1974) was an American poet known for her highly personal, confessional verse. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967 for her book '' Live or Die''. Her poetry details h ...

whose ''Love Poems'' (1967) inspired her to write poetry. She draws inspiration from Indian as well as Western poetic traditions. Her first poetry collection was ''Pravesh'' (Admission, 1975) which drew her critical acclaim. ''Philadelphia'' (1981), ''Nisbat'' (1984), ''Arasparas'' (1989), ''Avanjavan'' (1991), ''Rang Zarukhe'' (2005), ''Cherry Blossom'' (2004), ''Ketlak Kavyo'' (1990) are her poetry collections. ''Videshini'' (2000) is a re-publication of her first five poetry collections which addresses the issues of Indian diaspora. ''Attar Akshar'' is her

Haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 ''On (Japanese prosody), on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, ...

collection. ''Flamingo'' (2003) is her story collection. Her poetry is anthologised in poetry collections: ''Udi Gayo Hans'' in ''1996ni Shreshth Vartao'', ''Qutip'' in ''Gujarati Navalika Chayan'' (1997), ''Katha Nalinbhaini'' in ''Gujarati Navalika Chayan'' (2001), ''Galna Tanka'' in ''Gujarati Navalika Chayan'' (2002). Her essay is anthologised in ''Ab To Baat Fail Gai'' edited by

Suresh Dalal Suresh Parshottamdas Dalal, (11 October 1932 – 10 August 2012) was a Gujarati poet, essayist, litterateur and editor. Life Dalal was born on 11 October 1932 in Thane to Purushottamdas and Bhanumati. He completed B.A. in Gujarati in 1953 from S ...

Awards

She won the

Government of Gujarat The Government of Gujarat, also known as Gujarat Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Gujarat and its 33 districts. It consists of an executive of the legislators appointed by the Governor of Gujarat, a judiciar ...

's Prize in Poetry in 1978 for her first poetry collection, ''Pravesh'' (1975). She also won the Chunilal Velji Mehta Award in 2002.

Selected works

* ''Pravesh'' (Admission, 1975) * ''Philadelphia'' (1981) * ''Nisbat'' (1984) * ''Arasparas'' (1989) * ''Avanjavan'' (1991) * ''Rang Zarukhe'' (2005) * ''Cherry Blossom'' (2004) * ''Ketlak Kavyo'' (1990) * ''Videshini'' (2000) * '' Attar Akshar'' * ''Flamingo'' (2003)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Naik, Panna 1933 births Living people Writers from Mumbai Gujarati-language poets Gujarati-language writers Poets from Maharashtra Indian women short story writers St. Xavier's College, Mumbai alumni University of Mumbai alumni Writers from Philadelphia Indian librarians University of Pennsylvania alumni Drexel University alumni University of Pennsylvania faculty American people of Gujarati descent Indian emigrants to the United States American librarians American librarians of Asian descent American women librarians Indian women librarians American women poets Indian women poets