Nissim Ezekiel biography & works

Nissim Ezekiel biography & works Nissim Ezekiel (16 December 1924 – 9 January 2004) was an Indian Jewish poet, actor, playwright, editor and art critic.He was a foundational figure in postcolonial India's literary history, specifically for Indian Poetry in English. Considered to be the Father of post independence Indian verse in English, Nissim Ezekiel was a prolific poet, playwright, critic, broadcaster and social commentator. He was born on December 24, 1924 in a Jew family. His father was a professor of botany and mother was principal of her own school.In 1947, Ezekiel earned a BA in Literature from Wilson College, Mumbai, Bombay University. In 1947-48, he taught English literature and published literary articles. After dabbling in radical politics for a while, he sailed to England in November 1948. He studied philosophy at Birkbeck College, London. After three and a half years stay, Ezekiel worked his way home as a deck-scrubber aboard a ship carrying arms to Indochina. Career Ezekiel's first book,The Bad Day, appeared in 1952. He published another volume of poems, The deadly man in 1960. After working as an advertising copywriter and general manager of a picture frame company (1954–59), he co-founded the literary monthly Jumpo, in 1961. He became art critic of The Times of India (1964–66) and edited Poetry India (1966–67). From 1961 to 1972, he headed the English department of Mithibai College, Bombay. The Exact Name, his fifth book of poetry was published in 1965. During this period he held short-term tenure as visiting professor at University of Leeds (1964) and University of Pondicherry (1967). In 1969, Writers Workshop, Ezekiel published his The Damn Plays. A year later, he presented an art series of ten programmes for Indian television. In 1976, he translated Jawaharlal Nehru poetry from English to Marathi, in collaboration with Vrinda Nabar, and co-edited a fiction and poetry anthology. His poem The Night of the Scorpion is used as study material in Indian and Colombian schools. Ezekiel also penned poems in ‘Indian English’  like the one based on instruction boards in his favourite Irani café. His poems are used in NCERT and ICSE English textbooks. His poem 'Background, Casually' is considered to be the most defining poem of his poetic and personal career. Nissim Ezekiel is often considered the father of Modern Indian English poetry by many critics. He was honoured with the Padmashri award by the President of India in 1988 and the Sahitya akademi cultural award in 1983.After a prolonged battle with Alzheimer’s disease, Nissim Ezekiel died in Mumbai, on 9 January 2004 (aged 79) as doyen of Indian English poetry.1952: Time To Change 1953: Sixty poems 1956: The Discovery of India 1959: The Third 1960: The Unfinished Man 1965: The Exact Name 1974: Snakeskin and Other Poems, translations of the Marathi poet Indira Sant 1976: Hymns in Darkness 1982: Latter-Day Psalms 1989: Collected Poems 1952-88