Bhima PrustyBhima Prusty (b1959) is a native of Jajpur district, Odisha. Now, he lives in Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha and retired from his academic career as a lecturer of Odia language and literature in different colleges. Equally admired by both criticsand readers, he has carved a niche for himself as an ingenious story writer and novelist by executing path-breaking fictional work based on participatory research, exhaustive interviews, historical records, and private observations spanning many years of any chosen subject, such as a group of poets or a journey to explore a legacy or a community and their distinct locale. He moulds the language according to the indigenous characters and their precarious situations. He won the Odisha Sahitya Academy Award for his novel 'Samudra Manisha', based on the conflict between man and nature. Jambu Loka (THE LAND OF NO RETURN in English) has won the prestigious SARALA AWARD-2023. This book is about the Bangladeshi refugees and their settlement (illegal) on an island, Jambudwipa, not far from the Paradeep Port on the shore of the Bay of Bengal. Most of the refugees are Hindus who were forced to leave their homes and motherland and finally got anchored in a seaside place seeking shelter and certified recognition from an alien government. It tells their poignant stories evocatively, their perilous journey, and the new bizarre life they had to adapt to in a place from which they can't return anywhere. Read More Read Less