Bengali author Amar Mitra wins prestigious O Henry Prize

Bengali author

Amar Mitra

has won the prestigious O

Henry Prize

for short fiction this year. He received the award for his short story, Gaonburo, which was translated into English (The Old Man Of Kusumpur) earlier. The translated work was published in an American magazine in 2020. The list of total 20 recipients of the award was announced on Monday.


“I am elated. I wrote this story years ago in 1977 in Bengali. It was published in Amrita Patrika, a magazine that was edited by writer Shyamal Gangopadhyay. It was scheduled to get published in a festival edition but due to some inadvertent reason, it got postponed. After reading the story,

Shyamal Gangopadhyay

came to meet me and gave me his iconic work,

Kuberer Bishoy Ashoy

. That was my first award for the story,” the author said.


The short story was later translated for a workshop in the early ’90s. It is only recently the translator Anish Gupta and the author revived the story and sent it to the American magazine. “The editor of the magazine sought our permission to publish the story. The award is conferred only to the writers whose short stories are published in Canada and America. Hence, I bagged the award this year,” Amar Mitra said.

O Henry Prize is awarded for short stories. Earlier, several Nobel laureates, including Alice Munro,

William Faulkner

and others, too have received the award.

The author has earlier received the prestigious

Sahitya Akademi Award

from the Government of India and Bankim Puroshkar, in West Bengal, among many other recognitions for his contribution in Bengali literature.