Internationally acclaimed poet and litterateur, Jayanta Mahapatra passed away on Sunday at the age of 95 while undergoing treatment at the Srirama Chandra Bhanja (SCB) Medical College and Hospital in Odisha’s Cuttack.
Mahapatra was the first Indian poet to win a Sahitya Akademi (the fourth highest civilian honour in India) award for English poetry.
He authored poems such as ‘Indian Summer’ and ‘Hunger’, which are regarded as classics in modern Indian English literature.
The poet was conferred the Padma Shri in 2009 for his contribution to literature. However, he returned the award in 2015.
Born on 22 October 1928, into a prominent Odia Christian family, Mahapatra went to school in Cuttack, Odisha. He began his teaching career as a lecturer in physics and taught at various government colleges in Odisha.
He began his writing career in the late sixties. His short stories and poems were initially rejected by several publishers, until his poems were published in international literary journals.
Mahapatra authored 27 books on poems, of which seven are in Odia and the rest in English.