Dr. Gayatribala Panda is a well-known Odia poet, fiction writer, literary critic and editor. She has to her credit nineteen collections of poems (five of which translated into Hindi, two into English), four novels, two collections of short stories and a collection of essays. She is the recipient of first Central Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar (2011) for her poetry collection Gaan (The Village), State Youth Award for poetry (2000), Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Award (2011) and Utkal Sahitya Samaj Yuva Kabi Samman (2011) amongst others. In 2012 she was named as one of the ten best young writers in the country by the English daily Indian Express (Eye Magazine). She was honored to be among the Writers in Residence (2015) at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. In 2021 she was chosen for the Times Power Women. Her poems and short stories have been translated into many Indian languages and published in various important journals and anthologies. She is the editor of Anyaa, a widely acclaimed Odia literary journal. She can be reached at gayatribalap@gmail.com.