Nissim Ezekiel

Ezekiel was born on 16 December 1924 in Bombay (Mumbai) in Maharashtra. His father was a professor of botany at Wilson College, and his mother was principal of her own school. The Ezekiels belonged to Mumbai's Marathi-speaking Jewish community known as the Bene Israel.[7]

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.[8] 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.[9]

Ezekiel's first book,[10] The Bad Day, appeared in 1952. He published another volume of poems, The deadly man in 1960.[11] 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[12] 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.[13] His poem The Night of the Scorpion is used[14] as study material[15] in Indian and Colombian schools. Ezekiel also penned poems in ‘Indian English’ [16] like the one based on instruction boards in his favourite Irani café. His poems are used[17] 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.[18][19][20][21]

He was honoured with the Padmashri award by the President of India in 1988 and the Sahitya akademi cultural award in 1983.[22]

He edited The Indian P.E.N., the official organ of P.E.N. All-India Centre, Bombay from The Theosophy Hall, New Marine Lines, Bombay now Mumbai and encouraged poets and writers.[23]

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.[24][25][26]

• 1952: Time To Change[27]
• 1953: Sixty poems[27]
• 1956: The Discovery of India[27]
• 1959: The Third[27]
• 1960: The Unfinished Man[27]
• 1965: The Exact Name[27]
• 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 OUP

• 1969: The Three Plays Kolkata: Writers Workshop, India[28]
• Do Not Call it Suicide Madras: Macmillan India, 1993.[29]

• 1992: Selected Prose [30]
• Naipaul's India and mine- an essay[31]

• The Couple
• Enterprise[32]
• A Time to Change
• Philosophy
• Island
• For Elkana
• The Professor
• Soap
• Marriage
• In the country cott
• The Paradise Flycatcher
• Night of The Scorpion
• Goodbye party for Miss Pushpa T.S.
• Entertainment (was the best of one)
• “Background, Casually”
• Poet, Lover and Birdwatcher[33]

• The Golden Treasure of Writers Workshop Poetry (2008) ed. by Rubana Huq and published by Writers Workshop, Calcutta[34]
• Ten Twentieth-Century Indian Poets (1976) ed. by R. Parthasarathy and published by Oxford University Press, New Delhi[35]
• The Oxford India Anthology of Twelve Modern Indian Poets (1992) ed. by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and published by Oxford University Press, New Delhi[36][37]

• R. Raj Rao, Nissim Ezekiel: The Authorized Biography (Viking, 2000)
• Sanjit Mishra, The Poetic Art of Nissim Ezekiel ( Atlantic, 2001)

• Indian English Poetry
• Indian poetry in English
• Indian English Literature
• Indian literature

• Nissim Ezekiel Poetry
• Archival Material at Leeds Library