Bani Basu

Bani Basu is a prominent Bengali Indian novelist, essayist, critic, poet, translator, and professor, born in Calcutta on March 11, 1939. Her official education was at the prestigious Lady Brabourne College, Scottish Church College, and the University of Calcutta, where she earned an M.A. in English. Basu's novel Janmabhoomi Mtribhoomi launched her career as an author. She began her professional writing career in 1980, initially in "Anandamala," a juvenile magazine, then in "Desh" and other publications of the time. She is well-known for her novels, short stories, essays, and works for children and teenagers. Some of her stories have been adapted for film and television.

Her writing covers various topics, including gender, history, mythology, society, psychology, adolescence, music, sexual orientation, the occult, and more. Swet Ptharer Thl (A Plate of White Marble), Ekushe P (Turning Twenty-One), Maitreya Jtak (released as The Birth of the Maitreya by Stree), Gndharvi, Pancham Purush (The Fifth Generation), and Ashtam Garbha are among her notable works (The Eighth Pregnancy). She also writes poems and frequently translates into Bengali. For Antarght (Treason), she received the Tarashankar Award, and for Maitreya Jtak, she received the Ananda Purashkar. She also won the Sushila Devi Birla Award and the Sahitya Setu Puraskar. She was awarded the Sahitya Academy in 2010 for her contributions to Bengali literature.