Subhadra Sen Gupta (June 1952 – 3 May 2021) was an Indian writer. She was the winner of

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 ...

's 2015 Bal Sahitya Puraskar and wrote over 30 books. Her book, ''Mystery of the House of Pigeons'', was adapted into a television series for

Doordarshan Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest b ...

as ''Khoj Khazana Khojher''. Most of her books are in the genres of historical fiction and non-fiction, but she also wrote travelogues, comic strips and detective and ghost stories.

Life and career

Sen Gupta was born in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...

. She held a master's degree in history. She began writing in college, working as a copywriter for advertising agencies. Some of her works include ''Goodbye, Pasha Begum!'' from ''The Puffin Book of Spooky Ghost Stories'' (a horror story where a girl holidaying in Delhi finds herself as a slave in the

Mughal era The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

), ''Bishnu - The Dhobi Singer'' (a

dhobi Dhobi known in some places as Dhoba or Rajaka, Madivala is a group of community in India and the greater Indian subcontinent whose traditional occupations are washing and ironing, Cultivator, agricultural workers. They are a large community ...

boy who is taken under the tutelage of

Tansen Tansen ( – 26 April 1589), also referred to and commonly known as Sangeet Samrat () , was a Hindustani classical musician. Born in a Hindu Gaur Brahmin family, he learnt and perfected his art in the northwest region of modern Madhya Pr ...

) and ''A Mauryan Adventure'' (the daughter of a soldier in

Ashoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...

's army finds herself travelling the world). ''The Secret Diary of the World's Worst Cook'' (the child of two physicists who is bad at physics himself finds a diary written by a boy in a similar situation coming from a family of cooks) is part of a book series, ''World's Worst'', written in the diary format. This series also includes ''The Secret Diary of the World's Worst Cook''. ''A Flag, A Song And a Pinch of Salt'' features 19 freedom fighters of India and their inspiring stories. She also wrote a book for TERI, ''Caring for Nature: Bapu and the Missing Blue Pencil''. Her 2015 book, ''A Children's History of India'', was about the history of India written for children over the age of 10 years. In 2020, she released ''The Constitution of India for Children'' (sourced from books written by

Ramachandra Guha Ramachandra "Ram" Guha (born 29 April 1958) is an Indian historian, environmentalist, writer and public intellectual whose research interests include social, political, contemporary, environmental and cricket history, and the field of economic ...

Bipan Chandra Bipan Chandra (24 May 1928 – 30 August 2014) was an Indian historian, specialising in economic and political history of modern India. An emeritus professor of modern history at Jawaharlal Nehru University, he specialized on the Indian ind ...

Granville Austin Granville Seward Austin (1927 – 6 July 2014) was an American historian of the Indian Constitution. Education Austin received most of his early education at Norwich, Vermont, USA. Austin graduated from Dartmouth College with a BA in American Lit ...

and Derek O'Brien) and ''Mahal: Power and Pageantry in the Mughal Harem'' (about the social life of a

harem Harem ( Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A har ...

in the Mughal era). She is also famous for her books ''A Bagful of History, The Teenage Diary of Jodh Bai and The Teenage Diary of Jahanara'' Sen Gupta died of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

on 3 May 2021, at the age of 68, amid the

COVID-19 pandemic in India The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). As of , according to Indian government figures, India has the second-highest n ...

Awards and accolades

Her book, ''Mystery of the House of Pigeons'', was adapted into a six-part television series by Feisal Alkazi as ''Khoj Khazana Khojher'' on Doordarshan. Her works were also chosen as part of

NCERT The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is an autonomous organisation of the Government of India which was established in 1961 as a literary, scientific and charitable Society under the Societies Registration Act. Its head ...

textbooks. Three of her books, ''Twelve O'Clock Ghost Stories'', ''The Teenage Diary of Jodh Bai'' and ''A Clown for Tenali Rama'' were included in the annual

White Ravens The White Ravens is a catalog annually published by International Youth Library as a recommendation list for child and youth literature. An annual White Ravens catalog is introduced each year at the Bologna Children's Book Fair in Italy. Selectio ...

catalogue at the

Bologna Children's Book Fair The Bologna Children's Book Fair or La fiera del libro per ragazzi is the leading professional fair for children's books in the world. Since 1963, it is held yearly for four days in March or April in Bologna, Italy. It is the meeting place for al ...

. In 2015, she was awarded the Bal Sahitya Puraskar by the

for her contribution to children's literature in the English language.

Works

Stories

* ''Goodbye, Pasha Begum!'' (in ''The Book of Spooky Ghost Stories'') * ''Bishnu - The Dhobi Singer'' * ''A Mauryan Adventure''d

Novels

* ''Danger in Darjeeling: Satyajit Ray's Feluda Mysteries'' (2010) * ''A Flag, A Song And a Pinch of Salt'' * ''Marching to Freedom'' * ''The Secret Diary of the World's Worst Cook'' * ''The Secret Diary of the World's Worst Friend'' * ''Caring for Nature: Bapu and the Missing Blue Pencil'' * ''A Children's History of India'' (2015) * ''The Constitution of India for Children'' (2020) * ''Mahal: Power and Pageantry in the Mughal Harem'' (2020)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sen Gupta, Subhadra 1952 births 2021 deaths English-language writers from India Indian writers 21st-century Indian novelists 21st-century Indian essayists Indian women essayists Indian women novelists 21st-century Indian women writers Writers from Delhi Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in India