Joy Goswami (born 1954) is an Indian poet. Goswami writes in Bengali and is widely considered one of the most important Bengali poets of his generation.

Biography

Joy was born on 10 November 1954 in Kolkata. His family moved to Ranaghat, Nadia, West Bengal shortly after and he has lived there ever since. Goswami was introduced to and encouraged with respect to poetry by his father, Madhu Goswami a well-known freedom fighter in the area. He lost his father at the age of six, after which the family was sustained by his mother Sm. Sabita Goswami, a teacher, who in spite of her busy schedule, taught him and greatly influenced him in the Bengali language by narrating to him great works in Bengali literature. She died in 1984. Goswami's formal education stopped early, in grade eleven. By this time he was already writing poetry. After a long period of writing in little magazines and periodicals, his writing was finally published in the influential Desh Patrika. This brought his immediate critical acclaim and so long after his first poetry collection was published, named Christmas o Sheeter Sonnetguchchho (Sonets of Christmas and Winter). He has received the Anita-Sunil Basu Award from the Bangla Academy, Govt of W.B. the prestigious Ananda Purashkar in 1989 for Ghumiyechho, Jhaupata? (Have you slept, Pine leaf?) and the Sahitya Akademi Award, 2000 for his anthology Pagali tomara sange (With you, O crazy girl). He possesses a great deal of admiration for Mamata Bandyopadhyay and openly extends his support for her.

Works

Published works by Jaya Gosvāmī (which is how his name is transliterated in the Library's catalog and Name Authority File) listed in the Library of Congress Catalog:

Awards