Nissim Ezekiel was a foundational figure in the post-colonial literary history of India.
An Indian Jewish poet, art critic, editor, playwright, Vice Principal of a college in Bombay, and Professor of American Literature at the University of Bombay, he edited the Indian P.E.N, mentored numerous younger poets and published seven books of poetry as well as a book of plays.
Awarded the Sahitya Akademi award in 1983 and the Padma Shri in 1988, his work is widely anthologised and his poems are studied in many countries, as well as in India where they are a part of the National Curriculum.
Visiting Professor at the University of Leeds during two Terms in 1964, and Writer in Residence at the National University of Singapore in 1988, he was invited to numerous Poetry festivals – e.g., in Australia, Germany, Israel, England, Scotland, and Canada.
Ezekiel was born in a Bene-Israel family in Bombay, and passed away in Bombay in 2004.