Bengali poet Shankha Ghosh dies with Covid

KOLKATA: Iconic poet and thinker Shankha Ghosh passed away at his home around 11.30am on Wednesday, report Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey and Dwaipayan Ghosh. He was 89. The poet tested positive for Covid on April 14 and was under treatment at home since he did not want hospitalisation.


Among the most respected names in contemporary Bengali literature, Ghosh was one of the ‘Pancha Pandavas’— along with Shakti Chattopadhyay, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Binoy Majumdar and Utpal Kumar Basu — who gave a new identity to the Bengali literary world.

An intensely private man in personal life, Ghosh was very vocal on social issues. He won several prestigious awards for his poetry and essays. In 1977, he received the Sahitya Akademi Award for his book ‘Babarer Prarthana’. In 2011, he was awarded Padma Bhushan and in 2016 he received the Jnanpith Award. He was honoured with Desikottama by Visva-Bharati.

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