Jatindra Kumar Nayak was educated at Ravenshaw College, Cuttack and Merton College, Oxford and retired as Professor of English, Utkal University in 2016. He won the KATHA Translation Award in 1997 and Hutch-Crossword Book Award in 2004. He was a member of the Raja Ram Mohun Ray Library Foundation, Department of Culture, Government of India. At present, he is Member, English Advisory Board, Sahitya Akademi. He is Editor-in-chief of margASIA. His English translation of classic Odia novels have been published by University of California Press, Oxford University Press and Penguin books. Recent publications include the co-edited South Asian Critical Discourse (Odia).