Santanu Kumar Acharya

Santanu Kumar Acharya ( 1933)born in Calcutta, hails from the famous village Siddheswar Pur of Cuttack District, Orissa,in the family of Late Ray Bahdur Gopal Chandra Praharaj, Kaizar-i-Hind, the creator of the celebrated 4-language Odiya ( Oriya) Encyclopedia. His maternal grand father Kulamani Mishra was a military engineer who fought the World War I, in the then Mesopatamia(Iraq) and was a POW of the Bedouins. He, after the war was reemployed as an Engineer of the Calcutta Corporation. He was both a scientist and a sage whose psychological traits are inherited by child Santanu. Santanu's father Ananta Charan Acharya was a renowned school teacher in Orissa. Early in life the boy Santanu lost his mother Krishnapriya and turned to nature and poetry. Later he developed taste for empirical science studies in Ravenshaw Collegiate School, Cuttack, Orissa,and then pursued higher education in Ravenshaw College, Cuttack, to obtain a post graduate degree in Chemistry from Utkal University,1956. He served the Government of Orissa as a college teacher for 34 years from 1958 to 1992 when he retired as the Registrar of Utkal University, Odissa, in the rank of UGC Professor and senior academician and administrative officer . Between 1958 and till now he has published 15 full length novels.20 volumes of short story collections, 10 books of Children's Literature apart from many more books on general literature. His very first novel, Nara-Kinnara (Man and the Subhumans)1962, was awarded the Orissa Sahitya Academy Award. This innovative path breaking novel of the post independence age of the creative modern literature is cited often as the earliest bird-song heard at the day break of the modern Indian existential school of writing. He was awarded the Sahitya Akademy Award ( The Indian National Academy of Letters, New Delhi) for his Short Story Book, "Chalanti Thakura" ( God that responds) in 1993. Earlier he was awarded the Orissa Sahitya Academy Award for his most renowned path breaking novel " Nara-Kinnara" ( Man and the Subhumans), 1962, in the year 1970. His magnum opus " Shakuntala" (1980), a classic modern socio-political novel dealing with Naxalite violence in the late sixties and seventies in India was awarded country's most prestigious literary award Sarala Prize as offered by the IMFA Industrial Foundation for recognition of contribution to literauture and culture , in 1987. He also received Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad Award ( Kolkata) in 1994, "Sahitya Bharati Prize and award from the prestigious Gangadhar Rath Foundation", Cuttack, Orissa, 2003,for his life-long literary contribution particularly in the field of fiction writing, "Katha Literary Prize " from Katha Foundation, New Delhi,for his novel "Anoma's Daughter " in 2003 and many more literary awards from different Government and Non- Government foundations for Literature and Culture in the country and abroad. He was awarded twice, in 1961 and 1963, Government India's Children's Literature Award for best literature for children. He was decorated with the most covetable Honour, " Atibadi Jagannath Das Literary Award", named after the famous Indian saint-poet Jagannath Das of 16th Cent AD, who recreated the famous Srimad Bhagavata, in Odia. Many of his stories and novels have been translated into English, Russian, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kamnad, Malayalam, Telugu and other Indian languages. Main Publications: Novels: 1.Nara-Kinnara( The Man and the Sub Humans) First Publ:1962 Last publ:2006 Publisher: Grantha Mandira, Cuttack-2, Odisha, India 2.Shatabdira Nachiketa ( The Nachiketas of the Century) 1965, Publ:GranthaMandira,Cuttack-2Odisha,India. 3.Tinoti Ratira Sakala ( The mornings of three dark nights), 1969 Publ:Grantha Mandira, Cuttack-2, Odisha, India 4.Dakshinabarta( The turning point ), 1973, Publ: Cuttack Students' Store !Balu Bazar, Cuttack-2, Odisha, India 5.Jatrara Prathama Pada ( The First Leg of the Journey) 1976,Grantha Mandir