# Jayanta Mahapatra (1928-2023)

- Link: https://writersworkshopindia.com/2023/09/14/jayanta-mahapatra-1928-2023/
- Published: 2023-09-14T13:18:28+00:00
- Author: us\_basu

We are saddened by the demise of the acclaimed Jayanta Mahapatra on August 27. He
was the first poet to win the Sahitya Akademi award in English (1981). His contributions
to Indian literature were also recognized with the Padma Shri (2009), though he 
felt compelled to return it in 2015 to protest “rising intolerance in India”.

Born to Christian parents in Cuttack, Odisha, Mahapatra authored many books, including
27 collections of poetry–seven in Odia and the rest in English, now considered classics
of modern Indian English literature. Writers Workshop remembers him as the then-
unknown poet in 1971 who published his second volume with us, _Swayamvara and Other
Poems_.

We reproduce its title poem below.

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Mahapatra introduced himself to WW readers in 1971 as follows: “Took my Masters 
degree in Physics from the Patna University. At present I teach Physics in the Ravenshaw
College, Cuttack. Began writing poems seriously in 1968. … In 1970 won second prize
in the Poetry Award Contest held by International Who’s Who in Poetry, London.”

He remained a friend of WW all his life, often enquiring after our new activities.