The Why-Why Girl

Mahasweta Devi was born in what is now in Bangladesh on January 14, 1926. She received a B.A. in English from Vishvabharati University and an M.A. in English from Calcutta University. Before becoming a full-time author, she worked as a journalist and an English professor.

During her lifetime, she wrote almost 100 novels and over 20 short story collections, primarily written in Bengali. Her first book, Jhansi'r Rani (The Queen of Jhansi), was published in 1956. Her other novels included Mother of 1084 and The Occupation of the Forest. She was the author behind the Hindi films Rudaali and Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa. She was also an activist who immersed herself in the lives of India's poor and marginalized as she chronicled their lives in fiction. In 1997, she received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for her writing and activism on behalf of tribal communities. She died from a heart attack and multiple organ failure on July 28, 2016 at the age of 90.

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