Winners of 2023 Gayatri Memorial Awards for Literary Excellence Ananda Mandir has announced the winners of the 2023 Gayatri Memorial Awards. There are no winners in the English nominations category this year, and no award will be given. The winner in the Bengali nominations category is Manas Dey (Cumming, Georgia). He will receive a cash award of $500 and a plaque with appropriate citation. Additionally, the judges decided to present an Honorable Mention award to Sumita Basu (Katy, Texas). She will receive a cash award of $300 and a plaque. Congratulations to Manas Dey and Sumita Basu!
Manas Dey An engineer by training (BE from Bengal Engineering College, Shibpur, MTech from IIT, Kharagpur, and advanced education at MIT on supply chain management), Manas received his MBA from IIT, Delhi, and has worked in industry for almost twenty years. However, he is passionate about Bengali literature and enjoys writing short stories. He also writes poems, songs and plays. His writings have been featured in many North American publications as well as in several Indian magazines (such as Anandabazar Robibasorioyo) and online media (such as Banglalive.com). In 2022, he received an award in a short story competition, held in connection with that year’s Kolkata Book Fair. His latest book of short stories, Golpowallar Golpohaat, was released at the 2023 Kolkata Book Fair. Some of his short stories posted on social media have gone viral.
Sumita Basu Driven by a life-long passion for literature, art and culture, Sumita graduated from Calcutta University with honors in Bengali. Later, she completed her M.A. in Bengali from Jadavpur University where she came in close contact with several luminaries in Bengali art, literature and theatre like Sankha Ghosh, Chittaranjan Ghosh, Pabitra Sarkar, Swapan Majumdar and Naresh Guha. Soon after moving to America with her husband, she completed her Masters in Administrative Science (MAS) from Boston University. For several years, she worked in the financial sector. During this period, she continued to nurture her passion for art and literature by regularly contributing to Bengali magazines. Additionally, she taught at Harvard University in the Comparative Literature and South Asian Studies departments for a number of years.