Bengali poet Alokeranjan Dasgupta passes away; Mamata Banerjee expresses grief

“Saddened at the passing away of Sahitya Academy award-winning poet and translator Alokeranjan Dasgupta. My condolences to his family and admirers,” the chief minister posted on her Twitter handle.

Saddened at the passing away of Sahitya Academy award-winning poet and translator Alokeranjan Dasgupta. My condolences to his family and admirers

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) November 18, 2020

Born on October 6, 1933 in Kolkata, Dasgupta studied at Visva-Bharati in Shantiniketan, and then at St Xavier’s College. He obtained a PhD for his studies on lyrics in Indian poetry from the University of Calcutta.

He taught comparative literature at Jadavpur University for more than a decade.

Dasgupta has authored over 20 poetry books. He translated many Bengali and Santal poems into German and English.

Later in life, he shifted to Germany and taught at Heidelberg University. The celebrated poet was also keenly involved in boosting Indo-German literary exchanges.

Dasgupta received the Sahitya Akademi award in 1992 for his Marami Korat book of poems.