Poile Sengupta Biography 
Poile Sengupta is one of India’s foremost writers and playwrights in English. She is equally proficient in children’s works and also known as an actress who concentrates most on plays. Her first work, Mangalam, won a special award at The Hindu-Madras Players playwright competition in the year 1993 and this play has been successfully staged several times till now. She has also worked as a teacher, educational consultant and communication and language skills consultant. The Clever Carpenter and Other Stories, The Exquisite Balance, Water flowers, The Way to My Friend's House, The Story of the Road, Vikram and Vetal, How the Path Grew, Vikramaditya's Throne, The Naughty Dog and Other Stories, and The Black Snake and Other Stories are her notable children’s works. She is the founder of amateur theatre group based on Bangalore, ‘Theatre Club’.
Mangalam looks at the types of exploitation women are subjected to – including domestic violence, sexual harassment and betrayal, and the theme is quite relevant at present society too. Mangalam was staged for the first time in the year 1994. After she got recognition with her first full-fledged play, she wrote Inner Laws, Keats Was A Tuber, Thus Spake Shoorpanakha, So Said Shakuni and Samara’s Song. Polie has also acted in her play Samara’s Song.
In 1968, she began “A Letter to You”, a humour column for the children’s magazine and this column ran for more than 3 decades, finding its place in Limca Book of World Records. In 2006, she published a collection of her plays for children titled Good Heavens! Most recently she worked as a teacher for Montessori school. Her real name is Ambika Gopalakrishnan.
Published: N/A
Updated: March 26, 2014
