Dibyendu Palit

{{Infobox writer

| name = Dibyendu Palit

| image =

| alt =

| image_size =

| captions =

| birth_date = {{birth date text|5 March 1939}}

| birth_place = Bhagalpur, Bengal Presidency, British India (now in Bihar, India)

| death_date = {{death-date and age|3 January 2019|5 March 1939}}

| death_place = Jadavpur, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

| pseudonym =

| occupation = novelist, poet, short-story writer

| language = Bengali

| years_active = 1955–2019

| education = M.A. in (Comparative literature)

| alma_mater = Jadavpur University

| notable_works = * Anubhav

Dheu

| awards = Sahitya Akademi Award (1998)

| spouse = Kalyani Palit

| children = 1

| website =

}}

Dibyendu Palit ({{IPA|bn|/dibʲendu/}}; 5 March 1939 – 3 January 2019) was a Bengali novelist, poet, and short-story writer. His oeuvre consists of some forty novels, twenty-five short-story collections, ten poetry collections and several essays.{{Cite web |title=Dibyendu Palit |url=https://www.calcuttayellowpages.com/adver/108977.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250118134408/https://www.calcuttayellowpages.com/adver/108977.html |archive-date=January 18, 2025 |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=www.calcuttayellowpages.com}} He was senior assistant-editor of Anandabazar Patrika, until his retirement in 2000.{{Cite journal |date=November 21, 2014 |title=Meet the author: Dibyendu Palit |url=https://sahitya-akademi.gov.in/library/meettheauthor/dibyendu_palit.pdf |journal=Sahitya Akademi |publisher=}} He received the 1990 Bankim Purashkar for the novel Dheu, and in 1998 won the Sahitya Akademi Award for Anubhav.{{Cite news |date=January 3, 2019 |title=Sahitya Akademi awardee Dibyendu Palit dead |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/sahitya-akademi-awardee-dibyendu-palit-dead-119010300941_1.html |access-date=April 6, 2025 |work=Business Standard}}

His literary career began with the short story Chhandapatan published in the Sunday supplement of Anandabazar Patrika in 1955, and with Niyam appearing in Desh the next year.{{cite magazine |last=সুবর্ণ |first=বসু |date=January 17, 2019 |title=স্বংয়সমপূর্ণ স্রষ্টা, কিন্তু কম পঠিত |url= |trans-title= |magazine=Desh |pages=39–40 |language=bn |issue=6 |location=Kolkata |publisher= |access-date=}}

Biography

Dibyendu Palit was born in Bhagalpur, Bihar, to Bagalacharan and Niharbala Palit. He grew up amid the violence of post-Partition riots—an experience that later influenced much of his writing. He developed an early interest in literature and, while in college, won first prize in a short story competition organized by Bangiya Sahitya Parishad. There, he met Banaful, the jury president, who encouraged him to keep writing.

After his father died in 1958, Palit moved to Kolkata under financial strain. He studied comparative literature at Jadavpur University,{{Cite news |date=2019-01-04 |title=Literary world mourns as Dibyendu Palit dies at 79 |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/literary-world-mourns-as-dibyendu-palit-dies-at-79/articleshow/67377248.cms |access-date=2024-06-03 |work=The Times of India |issn=0971-8257}} where he met Buddhadeb Bose, with whom he later formed a close relationship. That same year, he published his first novel, Sindhubaroan,{{Cite web |last=SNS |date=2019-01-03 |title=Noted Bengali writer Dibyendu Palit dead |url=https://www.thestatesman.com/cities/kolkata/noted-bengali-writer-dibyendu-palit-dead-1502721744.html/amp |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=The Statesman (India) |language=en-US}} followed by his debut short-story collection, Shit-Grishmer Smriti, in 1960.

In 1961, he joined the Hindustan Standard as a sub-editor. His 1967 story Madhyarat drew praise, with critic Pranabendu Dasgupta saying it "warrants our attention."{{Cite journal |last=Dasgupta |first=Pranabendu |date=1968 |title=Bengali: Powerful Force of Poetry |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24157101 |journal=Indian Literature |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=10–18 |issn=0019-5804}} In 1970, he published his first poetry collection, Rajar Bari Onek Dure. The Ananda Puraskar followed in 1984. In 1987, he became senior assistant editor at Anandabazar Patrika, where he remained until retiring in 2000. He also briefly edited the literary section of Sangbad Pratidin.{{Cite journal |date=November 21, 2014 |title=Meet the author: Dibyendu Palit |url=https://sahitya-akademi.gov.in/library/meettheauthor/dibyendu_palit.pdf |journal=Sahitya Akademi |publisher=}}{{Cite web |title=প্রয়াত সাহিত্যিক দিব্যেন্দু পালিত |url=https://www.sangbadpratidin.in/entertainment/writer-dibyendu-palit-passes-away/ |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=Sangbad Pratidin |language=en-US}}

Writing style

Several of Palit's stories explore existential crisis, earthly suffering, and quiet lament. Yet, as critic Subarna Basu observes, he brings "remarkable depth" and "philosophical clarity" to the way people still find solace. In Oboidha ({{lit|Illicit}}), he focuses solely on the female perspective, contrary to the conventional narratives of adultery. Jeena Banerjee, his protagonist, voices her frustrations and contradictions—caught between physical intimacy and emotional detachment—without guilt or apology. Palit avoids moral commentary, instead tracing a woman's quiet assertion of independence.{{Cite journal |last=Datta |first=Damayanti |date=Jun 28, 2010 |title=Book: Stranger to Love: Two Women Struggle to Come to Terms with Marriage and Adultery in Kolkata |url=https://www.proquest.com/magazines/book-stranger-love/docview/580109397/se-2 |journal=India Today |id={{ProQuest|580109397}}}}

Personal life

In 1964, Dibyendu married Kalyani Palit. Their only son, Amitendu Palit, is an economist and officer of the Indian Economic Service (IES).

Palit died in Kolkata on 3 January 2019, at the age of 79.{{Cite web |last=PTI |date=2019-01-03 |title=Bengali writer Dibyendu Palit passes away |url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/national/bengali-writer-dibyendu-palit-passes-away/article25898926.ece |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=BusinessLine |language=en}}

In popular culture

In 2005, Shyamanand Jalan directed Eashwar Mime Co., adapted from Palit's story Mukhabhinoy and scripted by Vijay Tendulkar. The film, starring Ashish Vidyarthi and Pawan Malhotra, follows a travelling mime troupe through the eyes of a writer.{{Cite web |date=August 2010 |title=A theatrical performance |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/art-and-culture/a-theatrical-performance/story-qq4gxgTaCDo9lsmMbUvq7J.html |access-date=January 3, 2019}}{{Cite web |last=SNS |date=2019-01-03 |title=Noted Bengali writer Dibyendu Palit dead |url=https://www.thestatesman.com/cities/kolkata/noted-bengali-writer-dibyendu-palit-dead-1502721744.html |access-date=2024-06-03 |website=The Statesman |language=en}} Though not commercially released, it was screened at festivals in Durban, Nantes, and Kolkata.{{cite news |date=24 September 2010 |title=Special screening of Jalan's film |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/filmi-parties/regional/Special-screening-of-Jalans-film/articleshow/6613684.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308235630/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-09-24/regional/28255782_1_special-screening-jalan-music |archive-date=8 March 2012 |work=The Times of India}}

Selected works

= Collection of stories =

1960: Shit-Grismer Smriti
1982: Mukabhinoy
1983: Chilekotha
1984: Sukre Shoni
1973: Munnir songe kichukkhon
1984: Alamer nijer Bari
1988: Ruth o onnanyo galpo
1988: Mukhguli
1993: Dui Nari
2001: Araler Aynay

= Novels =

Anusaran
Swapner Bhitor
Dheu
Sahojhoddha
Sabuj Gandho
AEka
Bristir Pore
Binidro{{cite web

|url=http://www.bagchee.com/books.php?id=11068|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130117130702/http://www.bagchee.com/books.php?id=11068|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-01-17|title=Bagchee.com: The Faces and Other Stories: Books: Dibyendu Palit|publisher=www.bagchee.com|access-date=2009-02-21|last=|first=}}

The Golden Life

{{cite web

|url = http://www.rupapublications.co.in/client/Book/THE-GOLDEN-LIFE.aspx

|title = The Golden Life – Dibyendu Palit

|publisher = www.rupapublications.co.in

|access-date = 2009-02-21

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://archive.today/20130108100928/http://www.rupapublications.co.in/client/Book/THE-GOLDEN-LIFE.aspx

|archive-date = 8 January 2013

|df = dmy-all

}}

Awards and honours

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20090211125832/http://www.simindia.com/palit/dpalit1.htm Books of Dibyendu Palit]
[https://www.bengalitranslator.net/blogliterary/hindu/ Hindu, a short story by Dibyendu Palit translated from Bengali by Subhamay Ray]
[https://www.bengalitranslator.net/blogliterary/condolence-meeting-translation-bengali-short-story-dibyendu-palit/ Condolence Meeting, a short story by Dibyendu Palit translated from Bengali by Subhamay Ray]
{{IMDb name|1407531}}

Category:Writers from Kolkata

Category:1939 births

Category:2019 deaths

Category:Bengali-language novelists

Category:20th-century Bengali poets

Category:21st-century Bengali poets

Category:Bengali male poets

Category:Poets from Bihar

Category:University of Calcutta alumni

Category:Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Bengali

Category:People from Bhagalpur

Category:Novelists from Bihar