Eminent Odia litterateur Dr Prasanna Kumar Mishra passed away at Cuttack on Thursday. He is survived by wife, two daughters and three sons. He was under treatment in private hospitals at Bhubaneswar and Cuttack for some time.
Mishra, who left an indelible mark on the Odia literature, was a recipient of the Odisha Sahitya Akademi award for drama, Sarala Award, Jhankar Award for poetry, Gangadhar Meher Kabita Samman, besides others including the Kasbani Award for radio play.
A prolific writer, Dr Mishra has around 70 books to his credit. His creativity covered almost all aspects of literature including poetry, plays, novels, stories, translated works, research works in folk literature and children literature.
As a Senior Fellow of Central Sahitya Akademi, Dr Mishra had completed a research project on ‘Development of Plays for Children in Odia’.
Some of his works in poetry include ‘Ratna Dwipara Majhi’, ‘Basantara Sketch’, ‘Adrusya Sangam’, ‘Nija Tarafaru Soka Prasataba’, ‘Sasta Mahalar Striloka’, among others.
From 1981 to 1991, Dr Mishra was associated with the editing of Sisulekha, a monthly literary journal for children published by Government of Odisha.
He was also the author of novels ‘Badhi Panira Danta’, ‘Asura’, ‘Tejaswi’ and ‘ Sakti Saraswati’. Some of his popular books for children include ‘Rajarshi Santanu’, ‘Pitamaha Bhisma’, ‘Jarasandha’, ‘Alexander’, ‘Mahabira Nepoleon’ and ‘Sevika Florence Nightingale’.
His death has been condoled by many in the literary circle of the State.
