Jagannath Prasad Das (writer)

Jagannath Prasad Das (writer) Biography

Jagannath Prasad Das is a well-known writer belonging to Odia language. He is also a painter, and acted in a few Odia movies and stage plays. In the past 4 decades, he has given significant contribution to Odia literature in the form of poetry, plays, short stories, novel, essays, children’s poems and nonsense verse. Apart from his original works, he has also translated many works to Odia and English. Known for his extensive research into Odishan art, he has also published three non-fiction books regarding this subject. His poetry has been announced for Kendriya Sahitya Academy award, which he refused.  Nandikar Award and Saraswati Samman are the literal honours received by him. He worked in Indian Administrative Service.

Jagannath Prasad Das was born on 26 April 1936 in Puri, Odisha. Banpur is the village in which he was born. He is also known by the names, J. P and J. P. Das. He completed his graduation from Ravenshaw College, Cuttack in 1955, and his Master of Arts in Political Science in 1957 from Allahabad. Das started writing poetry from his school days, and published one of his early poems in a magazine in 1949 at the age of 13. In 1951, at the age of 15 he published his first book, Stabaka, which included a collection of 39 poems written by him. His third poetry collection was published in the year 1971. Das wrote his first short-story in 1980.

He wrote two short plays in 1960 and his first full-length play Suryasta Purbaru was published in 1971. J P Das passed the IAS exams in 1958 and joined Odisha cadre. He was first posted in Rourkella as Subdivisional Officer. In 1973, he was deputed to the Central Government in Delhi. He spent 3 years in Kalahandi district of Odisha as Collector and District Magistrate. He also owns passion in paintings.

Published: July 17, 2018

Updated: July 17, 2018