Leela Majumdar

Leela Majumdar (; née Ray; 26 February 1908 Sunil Gangopadhyay says that while the Tagore family enthused everybody with drama, songs and literature for adults, the Ray Chaudhuri family took charge of laying the foundations of children's literature in Bengali.

Formative years She joined Maharani Girls' School at Darjeeling as a teacher in 1931. Together with her nephew Satyajit Ray and her cousin Nalini Das, she edited and wrote for Sandesh throughout her active writing life. Until 1994 she played an active role in the publication of the magazine.

Creative efforts An incomplete bibliography lists 125 books including a collection of short stories, five books under joint authorship, 9 translated books and 19 edited books.

For a special Mahila Mahal (women's section) series of All-India Radio, dealing with the "natural and ordinary problems" in the everyday life of a girl growing up in a typical, middle-class, Bengali family, she created Manimala, the story of a "very ordinary girl" whose grandmother starts writing to her from when she turns 12, continuing into her marriage and motherhood.

Family In 1933 she married Dr. Sudhir Kumar Majumdar (1897-1984), a renowned dentist who was a graduate of the Harvard Dental School. Their son Ranjan was a medical doctor and a dentist. Daughter Kamala was married to Monishi Chatterjee, an oil engineer and grandson of the first female painter of the Bengal school, Sunayani Devi. Apart from her children, she had, at the time of her death, two grandsons, two granddaughters and three great-grandchildren.