Lala Nagendra Kumar RayLala Nagendra Kumar Ray (1898-1979) is an eminent Odia playwright, a talented theatre director and a skillful actor as well. He is a prolific writer. He is the author of about 50 books on various subjects including translation of the fictional works f Nobel Laureates. He has written four plays. His Kalinga Vijaya (1927), Shesa Swadhinata (1935) are History plays. Raghu Arakshita (1927), Bhaktadhina (1935) are mythological plays. His play Kalinga Vijaya is based on the historical event of the invasion of Utkal by Ashoka, the Emperor of Magadha Empire. It depicts intrepidness of Odias and their love for the motherland. It is an accomplished dramatic work of the author and a milestone in Odia dramatic tradition. It has won the Kalahandi Prize in 1944. His other famous books Bibidha Ratnasamgraha, Swadhina Manaba, Bibaha Bijnana and Kama Bijnana contribute to his reputation as a writer. Ray has done the Odia translations of English playwright George Bernard Shaw's Plays Unpleasant, Swedish author Selma Ottilia Lovisa Lagerlöf's work as Mrutyu Daka, Indian statesman Mino Masani's Our India, French existentialist author Albert Camus' The Stranger and The Fall, Bertrand Russell's Other Satan in the Suburbs and Stories, and Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls. Art for Ray is more than just self-expression and self-communication of the artist. It allows the individual escape into the refuge of fantasy and leave behind the stress and strain of life. Read More Read Less