Bani Basu

Bani Basu (born 11 March 1939 ) is a prolific Bengali Indian author, essayist, critic, poet, translator and professor.

Life She received her formal education from the well-known Lady Brabourne College, Scottish Church College and at the University of Calcutta 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 Bengali.

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