Susmita Bagchi (''née'' Panda) is an Indian writer who writes in

Odia Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to: * Odia people in Odisha, India * Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family * Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. She has published numerous books of novels short-stories and travelogues. She is the daughter of Sakuntala Panda, a prominent Odia writer and founder of Odia women's monthly ''Sucharita''. She is best known for her short story collection ''Akasha Jeunthi Katha'' for which she won

Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award () is a literary award awarded to an Odia language litterateur for outstanding contribution to Odia literature in various categories by the Odisha Sahitya Akademi, an institution established in 1957 in Odisha for act ...

in 1992. She is currently heading the ''Mo school'' programme.

Personal life

She was born on 25 September 1960 at

Cuttack Cuttack (, or officially Kataka ) in Odia is the former capital and the second largest city in the Indian state of Odisha. It is the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised form of ''Kataka'' which literall ...

. Her mother Sakuntala Panda was a prominent Odia writer. She did her education in Odisha before her post-graduation in political science and did a stint as a lecturer at Delhi University. She met her future husband Subroto Bagchi when she was fifteen years old. They tied the knot 4 years later.

Career

She wrote her first short story for ''Sucharita'' 1982. Her first short story collection ''Akasha Jeunthi Katha'' was published in 1990.She followed up with ''Chhai Sepakhe Manisha''. Her Odia novel "Deba Shishu" was about children living with cerebral palsy, It was published in 2006. It was translated into English and published by Penguin as "Children of a Better God" in 2010. She was appointed to head the ''Mo school'' programme of Government of Odisha that aims at improving the government and government aided schools in the state.

Published works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bagchi, Susmita 1960 births Living people People from Cuttack Odia-language writers Odia short story writers Odia novelists Novelists from Odisha Women writers from Odisha Odisha academics Women educators from Odisha Educators from Odisha Indian women academics Indian women novelists Indian women short story writers Translators from English Recipients of the Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award 20th-century Indian short story writers 20th-century Indian novelists 20th-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian novelists 21st-century Indian short story writers 21st-century Indian women writers