Susmita Bagchi is best known as a novelist and short story writer in Odia. Over the last 3 decades, she has published 8 short story collections, 10 novels and a travelogue. In her writing, she explores human relationships in an urban, middle-class context. Having lived overseas and based on her frequent international travels, she often writes about other cultural experiences and weaves a common human touch in her portrayal of people and situations.
Her short stories have been widely translated in Indian languages like Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
Her fourth novel ‘Debashishu’, based on the lives of children with cerebral palsy, had a major impact on her and was the beginning of issue-based writings. It has been translated into English as ‘Children of a Better God’ by Penguin. This book has also been published by Bharatiya Jnanpith in Hindi.
Her latest novel in Odia, ‘Chhai Chhaire Alua’ is a highly researched one based on the challenges of old age and how one faces this inevitability.
Susmita Bagchi’s first novel in English – ‘Beneath A Rougher Sea’, is published by Leadstart Publication in January, 2017. This is a well-researched novel on mental health, where the protagonist is a psychiatrist.
Susmita Bagchi was awarded the Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award (1992), the Gangadhar Rath Foundation Prize, the Prajatantra Bishuva Milan Prize, the Utkal Samman Prize along with many other awards for her literary contributions.
Currently, she serves the Govt of Odisha as the Chairperson of Mo School Abhiyan. She does not take a salary for her full-time job.
She is married to Subroto Bagchi and lives in Bhubaneswar. They have two daughters – Neha and Niti.