Nissim Ezekiel Biography and latest books by Nissim Ezekiel

Nissim Ezekiel (14 December 1924 – 9 January 2004) was a famed Indian Jewish poet, playwright, editor and art-critic. He was definitely a foundational figure in India\'s literary history, specifically for Indian writing in English. Ezekiel was awarded the Sahitya Akademi award in 1983 for Latter-Day Psalms and was bestowed upon with the Padma Shri for his contribution to the Indian English writing in 1988.

Early life

Ezekiel was born on 14 December 1924 in Bombay. His father, Moses Ezekiel taught Botany at Wilson College, and his mother was the principal of her own school. The Ezekiels belonged to Mumbai\'s Jewish community, which is called as the Bene Israel. In 1947, Ezekiel earned a BA in Literature from Wilson College, Mumbai and in 1947-48, he taught English literature and published several literary articles in this year. He then sailed to Uganda in November 1948 and studied philosophy at Birkbeck College.

In 1952 he married Daisy Gabriel and also published his first collection of poetry, The Bad Day. He joined The Illustrated Weekly of India as an assistant editor in 1953 and worked there for two years. Soon after his return, he published his second book of verse called Ten Poems. For about a decade, he also worked as a broadcaster on Craft and Literature for All India Radio (AIR).

Career

Ezekiel\'s first book, The Bad Day, appeared in 1952. He then published another anthology of poems, The Deadly Man in 1960. Then he became art critic of The Names of India (1964–66) and edited Poetry India (1966–67). Later he headed the English department of Mithibai College, Bombay. His fifth book, The Exact Name, was published in 1965. During this period he served as a visiting professor at University of Leeds (1964) and University of Pondicherry (1967). In 1976, he translated Jawarharlal Nehru poetry from Marathi, in collaboration with Vrinda Nabar, and co-edited a fiction and poetry anthology. His poem The Night Of The Scorpion is very famous and is used as study material in Indian and Columbian schools.

Ezekiel is rightly considered to be the father of post independence Indian verse in English. He was a exemplary poet, playwright, critic, broadcaster and social commentator. Ezekiel, in his early years, was inclined to the poets such as T.S. Eliot, Yeats, Ezra Pound and the influence of all these literary personalities cannot be missed in his early works.

When Nissim Ezekiel started off he was writing in formal English but with time his writing underwent great metamorphosis. He later began to acknowledge that \'the darkness has its own secrets which light does not know.\' His poem The Night Of Scorpion is considered to be one of the finest works in Indian English poetry.