On Thursday, 7 November, at the age of 81, Nabaneeta Dev Sen died at her home in her south Kolkata residence around 7:35 pm due to multiple organ failure. A stalwart of Bengali literature, Sen was battling cancer for some time before she passed away yesterday.
The name of her residence is “Bhalo Basa”, which means ‘love’ or ‘good home’.
Dev Sen was born on 13 January 1938 in West Bengal. She is the daughter of poet couple Narendra Dev and Radharani Devi. Her demise is a huge loss to the world of Bengali literature.
She graduated from Presidency College. The prolific poet and writer wrote more than 80 books in her lifetime, which were published in the Bengali language and included a wide collection of short poems, novels, travelogues, plays and so on.
She married Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen. in 1958 and in 1976, they got divorced.
Published in 1959, her first collection of poems is called “Pratham Pratyay”. She was also known for her research on Ramayana.
She used to teach Comparative literature at Jadavpur University and retired in 2002. Apart from that, she also worked as a teacher at Oxford University and Colorado College in the US.
Survived by two daughters, she was a poet, novelist and a short-story writer who won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1999 for her book ‘Naba-Nita’ and in 2000, she became a recipient of the Padma Shri.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her grief over Nabaneeta Dev Sen’s demise on Twitter. She wrote “Saddened at the passing away of noted litterateur and academic Nabaneeta Dev Sen. A recipient of several awards, her absence will be felt by her myriad students and well-wishers. My condolences to her family and admirers.”
Saddened at the passing away of noted litterateur and academic Nabaneeta Dev Sen. A recipient of several awards, her absence will be felt by her myriad students and well-wishers. My condolences to her family and admirers.
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) November 7, 2019
According to a news report, in a statement, the Presidency Alumni Association, of which Dev Sen was the president mentioned, “We convey our deepest condolences at the sad demise of Nabaneeta Dev Sen, beloved President of Presidency Alumni Association. She was the first woman president of the alumni association.”