Pratibha Ray is an academic and an eminent fiction writer. She writes novels and short stories in her mother tongue Oriya. Her first novel Barsha Basanta Baishakha (1974) proved itself as a best seller for its readability among rural female half literate readers. She attributed the boldness, the revolt and humanism in her literature. Her search for a social order based on equality, love, peace and integration, continues, since she first penned at the age of nine. She wrote for a social order, based on equality without class, caste, religion or sex discriminations; she says ‘I am a humanist. Men and women have been created differently for the healthy functioning of society. The specialities women have been endowed with should be nurtured further. As a human being however, woman is equal to man’. She completed her Masters in Education, and PhD in Educational Psychology. Her post-doctoral research was on ‘Tribalism and Criminology of Bondo Highlander’, one of the most primitive tribes of Orissa, India. She was the first woman to win the Moortidevi Award in 1991. Pratibha Ray, who has over 40 novels, travelogues and short stories to her credit was conferred with the prestigious Jnanpith Award for the year 2011.
