Vishnu Dey (English: Bishnu Dey, born- 8 July, 1909; died- 3 December, 1982) was a Bengali litterateur. He was honored with ‘Jnanpith Award’ in 1971. Also, he was awarded the ‘Sahitya Akademi Award’ in 1965 for the poetry collection ‘Smriti Satta Bhavishyat’ written by him. Vishnu Dey was a Bengali poet, writer and educationist in the era of modernism, post-modernism. Beginning as a Symbolist he gained recognition for the musical quality of his poems and created the Tagore generation of Bengali poets like Buddhadeb Basu and Samar Sen, who deeply influenced the advent of new poetry in Bengali literature.
He also published a magazine in which he encouraged socially conscious writing. His own work reveals a poet’s solitary struggle, his search for human dignity, amidst the crisis of uprooted identity. Through his literary career Vishnu Dey served in various institutions in various capacities like Lecturer at Krishnanagar College (1934–1940) and Surendranath College (1940–1944), Reader at Presidency University (1944–1947), Professor at Maulana Azad College (1944–1947), Taught English literature. Vishnu Dey was also a member of a young group of poets centered on the magazine ‘Kallol’ (Hungama). Vishnu Dey’s most important work ‘Smriti Satta Bhavishyat’ (Memory, Existence, Future) set a new example in Bengali poetry. This later earned him the Sahitya Akademi Award in Bengali in 1965 as well as India’s highest literary award ‘Jnanpith Award’ in 1971.
honors and awards
Sahitya Akademi Award, 1965 Nehru Smriti Award, 1967 Jnanpith Award, 1971
Litterateur Vishnu Dey died on 3 December 1982 in Kolkata, West Bengal.