Acclaimed children's author Subhadra Sen Gupta dies of COVID-19

Children’s author and the 2015 winner of the Sahitya Akademi’s Bal Sahitya Puraskar, Subhadra Sen Gupta died of COVID-19 on 3 May. Announcing her demise on Facebook, Shuddhabrata Sengupta, the author’s cousin, artist and curator with the Raqs Media Collective, said, “Gone with her is her remarkable sense of how the past remains alive, as story, as history, as memory.”

My cousin, Subhadra Sen Gupta, ‘Bul-di’ to all who knew her, beloved writer of historical fiction and history for… Posted by Shuddhabrata Sengupta on  Monday, 3 May 2021

During her lifetime, Sen Gupta wrote as many as 60 stories, a Mint Lounge report noted, in genres spanning from fiction and non-fiction to ghost stories, mysteries, adventures and picture books for young adults. Of all her engaging novels, some of the best loved titles include A Bagful of History and the Mystery of the House of Pigeons, which was later adapted into a TV series. Sen Gupta’s talent lay in her in-depth understanding of history and of making it accessible and engaging for children and young adults. Her books like Let’s Go Time Travelling: Life in India Through the Ages explores the lives and times and interesting quirks of historical figures like Emperor Akbar’s fondness for paan and the jewellery designers of the Harappan civilisation. In his tribute to his cousin, Shuddhabrata highlighted her fascination with history and noted, “She was the archivist of our Sengupta family, and it’s more than one hundred year old presence in Old Delhi. She knew the ins and outs of our eccentric ancestors.” Born in New Delhi, Sen Gupta went on to get a master’s degree in history and began writing when she was still a student in college. Her works, Twelve O’Clock Ghost Stories, Jodh Bai and A Clown for Tenali Rama have also gone on to receive the White Raven Award at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair.