Sarat Kumar Jena

Sarat Kumar Jena (b. 1975, Sikharpur, Odisha, India) is a researcher of Comparative Indian Literature at Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar. He is an Assistant Professor of Language, Culture and Media Studies and coordinates liberal studies at UIAR, Gandhinagar. He writes short stories, poems, scripts and critical papers regularly. His recent poetry anthologies include, OF LOVE: MEMORIES AND MYTH (2015) and NIGHT IS A BLACK MAGIC (2015). His upcoming poetry anthologies include, DEVI AND OTHER POEMS (2016) and an edited volume of love poetry, HUNDRED LOVE POEMS AROUND THE WORLD (2016) contributed by sixty poets around the globe. He is the recipient of Alfried Krupp Short Term Visiting Fellowship for National Narratives (Greifswald, Germany, August 2014).

Sarat Kumar Jena is the managing editor of interdisciplinary research journal in social sciences and humanities, 'The Comparative Review' published from Gandhinagar. His poetry and short stories in English and in vernacular languages have been published in national dailies and journals in India. He translates and makes documentary films on indigenous knowledge. He has published more than fifty research papers as conference proceedings, book chapters and in research journals. Sarat Kumar Jena's poetry is a blending of myth, folklore, gender, identity, rural and urban landscape, rituals and festivals, magic realism, indigenous society and culture, national history and epic tales, and human emotions and memory plays. His poetry attempts critical passages of human history and unfolds stories untold. Raw portrayal of Indian village, rustic belief system, agriculture, ecology, seasons and festivals, and lost love remain as key themes of his poetry.