Nissim Ezekiel was an Indian poet, actor, playwright, editor and art critic. He is known as the father of post-independence Indian poetry in English and his poems are used in the high school curriculum nowadays. He is a Padma-Shri and Sahitya Akademi cultural award winner. Ezekiel played an important role in the development of Indian poetry in English. He died on 9 January 2004 in Mumbai.
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Wiki/Biography
Nissim Ezekiel was born on Tuesday, 16 December 1924. in Mumbai. His zodiac sign was Sagittarius. Nissim started his schooling at the Convent of Jesus and Mary, and continued at the Antonio De Souza High School, both of which were Roman and Catholic schools. He did his Bachelor of Arts in Literature from Wilson College, Bombay University in 1947. After graduation, he taught for a year at Khalsa College, freelanced for various newspapers and magazines, and worked for M.N. Roy’s Radical Democratic Party. Later, he moved to England in November 1948, where he studied philosophy at Birkbeck College, London. while studying Philosophy, Nissim enrolled in evening courses in Chinese, Western Philosophy, and Art Appreciation at the City Literary Institute. He stayed there for three and a half years and then later found his way back home by working as a deck scrubber on a ship carrying arms to Indochina. While teaching English Literature he started writing articles which got published later.
Family
Nissim Ezekiel was born into Mumbai’s Marathi-speaking Jewish community known as the Bene Israel.
Parents & Siblings
His father Moses Ezekiel Talkar was a Botany Professor at Wilson College, Mumbai and his mother Diana Ezekiel Talkar was a Principle in her own school. Nissim was the third of five children, three boys and two girls.
Nissim Ezekiel’s family
Wife & Children
Nissim got married in 1952 to Daizy Jacob Dandekarand but later got separated. They had 3 kids, a son Elkana and daughters Kalpana and Kavita.
Nissim Ezekiel with his wife and daughter Kavita
Religion
Nissim Ezekiel follows Judaism.
Signature/Autograph
Career
Literary career
Nissim began his writing in the late 1940s. His form of writing was controversial as it was more related to colonialism. In 1952, he published his first book “A Time to Change”. Later in 1960, he published another volume of poems, The deadly man. Between 1954 to 1959 he worked as an advertising copywriter and general manager for a picture frame company. In 1961, he co-founded the literary monthly Jumpo. In 1969, at the Writers Workshop, Ezekiel published his Three Plays which include Nalini, Marriage Poem, and The Sleep-walkers. In 1976, he translated Jawaharlal Nehru’s poetry from English to Marathi, in collaboration with Vrinda Nabar, and co-edited a fiction and poetry anthology. His main themes of writing were Pathos and Melancholy. His poems are used in NCERT and ICSE English textbooks. His poem ‘Background, Casually’ is considered to be the most defining poem of his poetic and personal career.
Art Critic
He became an art critic for The Times of India for two years from 1964 to 1964 and was the editor for Poetry India for the years 1966 and 1967. He was also a playwright, actor, broadcaster and social commentator.
Teaching
From 1961 to 1972, he was the head of the English Department at Mithibai College, Bombay. He was also a visiting professor at the University of Leeds in 1964 and the University of Pondicherry in 1967.
Awards, Honours, Achievements
- In 1988, he was honoured with the Padma Shri award by the President of India.
- In 1983, he won the Sahitya Akademi cultural award.
Death
On 9 January 2004, Nissim Ezekiel died at the age of 79 in Mumbai after fighting a long battle with Alzheimer’s. He died in a nursing home. The year he passed was considered the annus horribilis of Indian poetry in English
Favourites
Facts/Trivia
- He mentored many young writers like Dom Moraes, Adil Jussawalla and Gieve Patel.
- Talking about the private life of Nissim in an interview, his son said,
Dad often showed his work-in-progress to Mum. At times, he would read out to her while she was cooking our dinner which she paused, to patiently listen, sometimes encouraging him, though not fully approving. I’ve known Dad to actually re-write his poems based on how mum reacted.”
- R. Rao wrote an authorised biography on Nissim Ezekiel.
- Ezekiel visited Paris twice in December 1949 and in August 1951 and had an urge to move there but later decide against it.
- During his stay in England, Ezekiel worked at the India House, the headquarters of India’s diplomatic mission to the United Kingdom for a year.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn