Jayanta MahapatraJayanta Mahapatra (22 October 1928 - 27 August 2023), Indian English poet per excellence, was the first Indian poet to win Sahitya Akademi (India's National Academy of Letters) award for English poetry, for his book Relationship. He was awarded the Pdma Shri, fourth highest civilian honour in India in 2009. He was also a recipient of the Jacob Glatstein Memorial Award conferred by Poetry magazine, Chicago, the Allen Tate Poetry Prize for 2009 from The Sewanee Review, the SAARC Literary Award, New Delhi, 2009, an honorary doctorate by Ravenshaw University in 2009, and a D. Litt degree by Utkal University, Odisha in 2006.He authored 27 books of poems including seven in Odia and the rest in English. His poetry collections include Close the Sky Ten by Ten (1971), A Rain of Rites (1976), Waiting (1979), The False Start (1980), Relationship (1980), Temple (1989), Random Descent (2005), The lie of Dawns: Poems 1974 - 2008 (2009). His published books of prose include The Green Gardener (1997), an anthology of short stories and Door of Paper: Essay and Memoirs (2006). He was the editor of the literary journal Chandrabhaga. Read More Read Less