Pratibha Ray is an Indian academic and writer. She was born on 21 January 1943, at Alabol, a remote village in the Balikuda area of Jagatsinghpur district formerly part of Cuttack district of Odisha state. She was the first woman to win the Moortidevi Award in 1991. She is an eminent fiction-writer in contemporary India. She writes novels and short stories in her mother tongue Odia. Her first novel Barsha Basanta Baishakha was a best seller. Her search for a "social order based on equality, love, peace and integration", continues, since she first penned at the age of nine. When she wrote for a social order, based on equality without class, caste, religion or sex discriminations, some of her critics branded her as a communist, and some as feminist. But she says "I am a humanist. Men and women have been created differently for the healthy functioning of society. The specialities women have been endowed with should be nurtured further. As a human being however, woman is equal to man". She continued her writing career even after her marriage and raising a family of three children and husband Mr Akshay Ray who is an eminent engineer of odisha of kaduapada jagatsinghpur dist of odisha she credits her parents and her husband. She completed her master's degree in education, and PhD in educational psychology while raising her children. Her post-doctoral research was on Tribalism and Criminology of Bondo Highlander, one of the most primitive tribes of Odisha, India.
Career
She started her professional career as a school teacher, and later she taught in various Government Colleges in Odisha for thirty years. She has guided doctoral research and has published many research articles. She took voluntary retirement as a Professor of Education from State Government Service and joined as Member, Public Service Commission of Odisha.
Other activities
She has active interest in social reform and has fought against social injustice on many occasions. One important incident in her life is protesting against colour discrimination by the high priests of Jagannath Temple at Puri. She is currently fighting a defamation case lodged by the priests against her for her newspaper article in which she wrote against the undesirable behaviour of the priests, titled The Colour of Religion is Black. She works in the cyclone-affected areas after the Odisha's Super Cyclone of October,1999 and she is working for rehabilitation of the orphans and widows of Cyclone affected areas.
Travel
Traveled extensively inside India to participate in various National Literary and Educational Conferences. Visited five Republics of the erstwhile USSR in 1986 in a cultural exchange programme sponsored by ISCUS. She represented India as an Indian writer in the India Fair in Australia "India Today 94" sponsored by Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi in 1994. She gave readings and talks on Indian Literature and Languages in several Universities of Australia. Visited USA, U.K and France on speaking tours. Represented India as an Indian writer in the India Festival in Bangladesh in 1996. Attended the 7th International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women in the University of Tromsoe, Norway in June 1999 as an Indian delegate. She visited Norway, Sweden, Finland & Denmark on a speaking tour in 1999. Visited Zurich, Switzerland in 2000 to present a paper in the Third European Conference on Gender Equality in Higher Education.
