Bengali poet Joy Goswami to get 31st Moortidevi Award

Eminent Bengali poet Joy Goswami will be given the 31st Moortidevi Award for the year 2017, a selection board meeting announced here today.
The committee, headed by poet and scholar Satya Vrat Shastri, unanimously decided to confer the award upon Goswami for his poetry collection titled 'Du Dondo Phowara Matro'.
It is the first time the award will be given to a Bengali poet.
'Du Dondo Phowara Matro' is an autobiographical account of the poet's life featuring his close ones including a pet cat.
The work also echoes secret trysts, chance loves and more of the fantastical quotidian which makes up the poet's consciousness.

Born on 10 November 1954, Goswami is considered one of the most powerful poets in the post-Jibanananda Das era of Bengali poetry lending his voice against violence, war and genocide through his poetry.

Having published over fifty titles, including a novel in verse and several collections of critical essays, the poet has received many awards including Kendriya and Bangla Sahitya Akademi Awards, Ananda Purashkar, and the first Tata Literature Live Poet Laureate Award.
'Pagali tomara sange', 'Ghumiyechho, Jhaupata?', and 'Christmas O Sheeter Sonnetguchchho' are some of his important works in Bengali language.
The annual award is presented for a contemplative and perceptive work which expresses, underlines and illuminates human values written in any Indian languages or English.

The award consists of a Saraswati Statue, a Citation Plaque and cash award of Rupees 4 lac.