Susmita Bagchi

Susmita Bagchi (née Panda) is an Indian writer who writes in Odia and English. She has published numerous books of novels short-stories and travelogues. She is the daughter of Sakuntala Panda, a prominent Odia writer and founder of Odia women's monthly Sucharita. She is best known for her short story collection Akasha Jeunthi Katha for which she won Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992. She is currently heading the Mo school programme.
She was born on 25 September 1960 at Cuttack. Her mother Sakuntala Panda was a prominent Odia writer. She did her education in Odisha before her post-graduation in political science and did a stint as a lecturer at Delhi University. She met her future husband Subroto Bagchi when she was fifteen years old. They tied the knot 4 years later.
She wrote her first short story for Sucharita 1982. Her first short story collection Akasha Jeunthi Katha was published in 1990.She followed up with Chhai Sepakhe Manisha. Her Odia novel "Deba Shishu" was about children living with cerebral palsy, It was published in 2006. It was translated into English and published by Penguin as "Children of a Better God" in 2010. She was appointed to head the Mo school programme of Government of Odisha that aims at improving the government and government aided schools in the state.