Literature shaped me, my understanding of situations: Ray

, Dec 27: Known for her fight against caste and religious discrimination, Pratibha Ray, who was on Thursday named for the prestigious Jnanpith Award for 2011, said writers shaped her concepts. "I grew up reading great literature created by our past writers. They shaped me, my understanding of situations and my writings," Ray, a professor by profession and writer by passion, said.

"I am a humanist. I felt the agony of the people before giving shape to them in my writing," she said. Asked to identify her best piece among her novels, Ray said: "I love all my creations. But, to make it specific, I can say Magnamati, a book written on the miseries of the calamity affected people, had pained me a lot." She described Odisha's first Jnanpith awardee (1973) Gopinath Mohanty as her favourite among Odia novelists. Ray said besides Odia, she read novels in Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, English and Spanish.

"I adore many writers. Hindi is like my second mother tongue," she said. "I am happy that a Odia writer has been chosen for the Jnanpith award after a long gap. The last Odia to get the award was Sitakant Mohapatra," she said. Pratibha Ray is the first Odiya woman and fourth Odiya writer to get the coveted award. Earlier Gopinath Mohanty (1973), Sachidananda Routray (1986) and Sitakant Mohapatra (1993) were conferred the honour.

PTI