A poet-linguist-essayist and translation theoretician, Udaya Narayana Singh currently holds a Chair-Professorship at the Amity Centre for Linguistic Studies (ACLiS), Amity University Haryana at Gurgaon. He held a Professorial Chair at Rabindra Bhavana, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan (2009-16) where he was also the first Pro-Vice-Chancellor (2010-12). He was the Director of India’s premier institution in Linguistics – Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore(2000-09; www.ciil.org). He had also set up for the Government of India, the National Translation Mission (NTM), the Linguistic Data Consortium for Indian Languages (LDC-IL) and the National Testing Service (NTS). At the University of Hyderabad, he established what is now one of the most vibrant centers of Linguistics and Translation, called the CALTS, or Centre for Applied Linguistics and Translation Studies.
Udaya Narayana Singh taught Linguistics, Translation Studies, Comparative Literature and English at the Universities of Hyderabad, Delhi, Surat and Baroda. At Amity University, he teaches Applied Linguistics, Theoretical Linguistics and Tagore Studies. He has been awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry in 2017 for his book of poems – ‘Jahalak Diary’ (2015). Earlier, he was awarded the Uggersain Memorial Gold Medal (University of Delhi, 1974), Mithila Vibhuti Sanman 2007 and the Keertinarayan Mishra Award (Chetana Samiti) for his play ‘No entry: Maa Pravisha’, 2009. Recently, he was also awarded the 2014-Kalaignar Porkizhi Award by BAPASI, Chennai – the organizers of Chennai Book Fair. Singh was awarded the Jyotirishwar Sanman 2016 for life-time contribution to Maithili theatre by Mailorang, New Delhi and Sir Ganganath Jha Memorial Award for his contributions to Maithili Literature, besides having been selected by the Asiatic Society, Kolkata for the Suniti Kumar Chatterji National Lectureship for 2016.
Singh has authored 26 books in Bangla, Maithili and English, and published over 180 research papers besides editing 21 volumes and translating nine other books. His latest books include a voluminous book of literary essays – Bhashar Sahitya: Sahityer Bhasha. Kolkata: Anushtup. [2010], a poetry collection in Bengali – Esecho eso raat. [2011]. Kolkata: Sahaj Path, an anthology of short stories for children – Bhut-Chaturdashi; Karigar, Kolkata [2013], a major translation initiative: The Original Gitanjali. Andorra: Anima Viva Multilingue [2014], and a book of literary essays in Bengali – Kibhabe porbo Sanskritike: Bishay Rabindranath [2016]. Calcutta: Prativas. These are besides his translation from Maithili to Bengali – Dhvase Jay Shanti Stup (2013, Keertinarayan Mishra’s poems); Kolkata: Sahitya Akademi, and edited-translated (with ten other translators) 2500 Vachana poems from Medieval Kannada into Maithili – Vachana [2016], published by the Basava Samithi, Bangalore.
The forthcoming books include: Beyond Language: Towards Silence – Tagore’s Journey Into Art and Poetry. Andorra: Anima Viva Multilingue. Golden Tagore Collection, Vol 2, Languages and Cultures on the Margin: Guidelines for Fieldwork on Endangered Languages (with Rajib Chakraborty, Bidisha Bhattacharjee & Arimardan Kumar Tripathy), CFEL, Visva-Bharati, and The Other India: View From Below (with Rajarshi Singh). New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi.
Besides having lectured in Australia, Bangladesh, Caribbean Islands, China, France, Germany, Italy, Iceland, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand & USA, he had been a Poet-invitee at the Frankfurt Book Fair (2006) and London Book Fair (2009). He led the Indian cultural delegation to China in 2007, and was a member of Indian delegation to UNESCO (Paris), France and USA during 2010-12 and to Russia, Thailand and China again in 2013.
