Nabaneeta Dev Sen is an award-winning Indian poet, novelist and academic. Born to a Bengali family in Calcutta, she graduated from Presidency College and Jadavpur University, eventually earning a master’s from Harvard and a Ph.D. from Indiana University. Dev Sen’s spontaneity, unique style of expression, and vast and varied experience of life is evident in her poems, short stories, novels, and essays. Her impressive collection of works, which have been published in more than 80 books, including pieces such as Bama-bodhini, Nati Nabanita, Srestha kabita, and Sita theke suru.
Dev Sen is also widely respected in the academia. She was a professor of comparative literature at Jadavpur University in Calcutta and is the founder secretary of the Indian National Comparative Literature Association. Dev Sen has served on the Advisory Board for Bengali, Sahitya Akademi and Bharatiya Jnanpith Award Language Advisory Committee. Her numerous honors and awards include the Gouridevi Memorial Award, the Mahadevi Verma Award in 1992, the Celli Award from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1993, the Sarat Award from Bhagalpur University in 1994, and the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1999. Dev Sen’s work is included in the Library of Congress collections. Once married to Nobel prize-winner Amartya Sen, Dev Sen currently lives in Calcutta with her adopted daughter and granddaughter.
