Mahasweta Devi was born on January 14, 1926 in Dacca, Bengal Presidency, British India [now in Dhaka, Bangladesh]. She was a writer, known for Sunghursh (1968), Gudia (1997) and Maati Maay (2006). She was married to Asit Gupta and Bijon Bhattacharya. She died on July 28, 2016 in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.