BHUBANESWAR: Eminent writer Pratibha Ray has been appointed chairperson of Bharatiya Jnanpith Selection Board. Prior to this, she was a member of the board.She is the first Odia woman and fourth Odia writer to get the prestigious Jnanpith Award for her contribution to literature in 2011.
Ray was also the first woman to win the Moortidevi Award in 1991 for her magnum opus ‘Yajnaseni’. She is also the recipient of Sarala Award in 1990 for her book ‘Yajnaseni’, in which she reconstructed the life of Draupadi in a feminist mode. It was a retelling of Mahabharata through the viewpoint of Draupadi.
Prior to that, she was honoured with Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award for ‘Shilapadma’ in 1985.
Some of the best known works of the novelist are ‘Barsa Basanta Baishakha’ (1974), ‘Aranya’ (1977), ‘Nishidha Prithivi’ (1978), ‘Parichya’ (1979), ‘Aparichita’ (1979), Punyatoya (1979), Meghamedura (1980), Ashabari (1980), Ayamarambha (1981), Nilatrishna (1981), and Samudrara Swara (1982). Born on January 21, 1943 at Alabol village in Balikuda area of Jagatsinghpur, Ray’s works are widely translated in English and other regional languages.