Born at Shankari, Balasore, Orissa, Manoj Das is perhaps the foremost bilingual Oriya writer and a master of dramatic expression both in his English and Oriya short stories and novels. He says that characters follow the theme of a story and the words are merely added by the author to represent the thoughts of the character. That is the precise reason why Das’s characters in his fictional novels are from so many varied backgrounds and display many different dimensions of human nature. He is a philosopher, a thinker-writer whose works can be defined as a quest for finding the eternal truth in everyday circumstances. He is settled as an ashramite of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry since 1963, and is an English professor at the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, Pondicherry, and is presently concentrating on writing novels.
Among his other important positions are Member, General Council, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi 1998-2002 and Author-consultant, Ministry of Education, Govt. of Singapore, 1983-85. He received recognition in the form of the Sahitya Akademi Award, 1972, in English; Orissa Sahitya Akademi Award, 1965 and 1982; Sarala Award, 1981; Vishuba Award, 1986; and Sahitya Bharati Award, 1995; Saraswati Samman, 2000; Padma Shri, 2001.
His major works are:
Shesha basantara chithi, 1966; Manoj Dasanka katha o kahani, 1971; Dhumabha diganta, 1971; Manojpancabimsati, 1977; (short stories); Tuma gam o anyanya kabita, 1992 (poetry). His notable English works include: The crocodiles lady : a collection of stories, 1975, The submerged valley and other stories, Farewell to a ghost : short stories and a novelette, 1994; Cyclones, 1987, and A tiger at twilight, 1991.
The Library of Congress has thirty-five catalog records of his works in its collection.
