Indian Poet, Editor & Curator Vinita Agrawal will be conferred with a Citation & Cash Prize Worth 50,000 Under the award
OdishaPlus Bureau
Indian poet Vinita Agrawal, who writes in English, to be conferred for the 2nd Jayanta Mahapatra Award for Literature, as informed by Jay Jagdev, President Udaygiri Foundation in a media release.
Vinita is the author of six books of poetry – Words Not Spoken, The Longest Pleasure, Silk of Hunger, Two Full Moons, Twilight Language, and Eartha.
She has edited two anthologies on climate change. They are, Open Your Eyes and Count Every Breath. She has also edited the Centennial celebration memoir on Nissim Ezekiel, Nissim Ezekiel, Poet & Father.
Her book Twilight Language won the Proverse Prize in Hong Kong 2021.
She was awarded the Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize 2018 and the Gayatri GaMarsh Memorial Award for Literary Excellence, USA, 2015 and a special mention in the Hawkers Prize 2019. Her work was shortlisted for the inaugural Dipankar Khiwani Memorial Prize 2021.
She also co-edits the Yearbook series of Indian Poetry in English and was a former Poetry Editor with Usawa Literary Review. Her work has been widely published and anthologised. She is on the Advisory Board of the Tagore Literary Prize. She was one of the twenty poets featured in a documentary on Asian poets titled Deepest Uprising, made in Taiwan. Besides being a poet, she is a birder and a photographer.
Speaking to OdishaPlus she has said that, “I’m deeply honoured and humbled to have won the Jayanta Mahapatra National Award for Literature. It’s a huge validation for poets to be recognised for their work. I’m also very happy that this award has been instated in Jayanta Mahapatra’s name who was a great poet and deserves to be remembered by all of us”.
Instituted by Bhubaneswar-based Udaygiri Foundation Trust, the award, named after the legendary poet Jayanta Mahapatra, is conferred upon a distinguished poet writing in English every year. It carries a cash award of Rs. 50,000 and a citation.
The award will be presented during the inaugural ceremony of the 3rd Toshali Literature Festival on first day of February 2025 scheduled to be held at the Ranch Resort on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.
The maiden JMNAfL was given to noted poet Gopal Lahiri in the Toshali Literature Festival February 2024, said President of Udaygiri Foundation Trust Jay Jagdev.
Hailing from Odisha’s Millennium City ‘Cuttack’, Jayanta Mahapatra was an Indian Poet of international repute. Prof Mahapatra who was a Sahitya Akademi fellow, was known in the Indian literary circle for contribution to both poetry & prose as an author, editor & translator.
“Mahapatra frequently explores themes of cultural struggle, identity exploration, and displacement in his poetry. His writing captures the intricacies of current Indian society as well as the difficulties in balancing traditional ideals with changing circumstances. His utilization of imagery from ordinary life and Indian landscapes, coupled with a thoughtful and introspective voice, define his approach,” as referred in Wikipedia.
#VinitaAgrawal #JayantaMahapatraAward #IndianPoet #LiteratureAward #PoetryCommunity #WomenInLiterature
