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{{Short description|Indian writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2016}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2016}}

[[File:Poile Sengupta 2014.png|thumb|Poile Sengupta in 2014]]
'''Poile Sengupta''' ({{nee|'''Ambika Gopalakrishnan'''}}; born 1948) is an Indian [[English language|English-language]] writer.<ref>[http://www.womenswriting.com/WomensWriting/AuthorProfileDetail.asp?AuthorID=208 Women's Writing Entry on Poile Sengupta] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130209224133/http://www.womenswriting.com/WomensWriting/AuthorProfileDetail.asp?AuthorID=208 |date=9 February 2013 }} maintained by Zubaan, an independent publishing house in India</ref> She is especially well-known as a [[playwright]] and writer for children. Her formal first name is Ambika but she writes, and is known, as Poile. Sengupta has been a college lecturer, a senior school teacher, an educational consultant, a communication and language skills consultant, a consultant editor for a market research firm, and a teacher for Montessori school children.

==Career==
===Writing===
A number of Sengupta's books for children have been published, including ''The Exquisite Balance''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/817011358X/|title=Amazon's listing|website=Amazon|publisher=|accessdate=11 October 2014}}</ref> (1985), ''The Way to My Friend's House'' (1988), ''The Story of the Road'' (1993), ''How the Path Grew'' (1997)- (all [[Children's Book Trust]], New Delhi), ''The Clever Carpenter and Other Stories'', ''The Naughty Dog and Other Stories'', and ''The Black Snake and Other Stories'' (all Frank Brothers, New Delhi, 1993), ''Waterflowers'' (Scholastic, 2000), ''Vikram and Vetal'' (2006) and ''Vikramaditya's Throne''(2007)(Puffin).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/en/content/poile-sengupta|title=Poile Sengupta - Penguin Books India|publisher=|accessdate=11 October 2014}}</ref> ''Role Call'' has been translated into Bhasa Indonesia <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/695907.Poile_Sengupta|title=Poile Sengupta|work=Goodreads|accessdate=11 October 2014}}</ref> and ''Vikram and Vetal'' into French.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=author:%22Madanagobalane,%20Kichenassamy%22&formQuery=author:%22Madanagobalane,%20Kichenassamy%22|title=UniCat-Search|publisher=|accessdate=11 October 2014}}</ref> She has also written ''The Lights Changed''. This short has been written in the NCERT book of civics for class 6.

Her stories for children have been included in a number of anthologies like ''The Puffin Treasury of Modern Indian Stories'', ''The Puffin Book of Funny Stories'', ''Favourite Stories for Boys'', ''Favourite Stories for Girls'', ''A Clear Blue Sky'' and ''Bad Moon Rising'', all from Puffin, India, ''More Mystery Stories'' (1989), ''24 Short Stories'' (1991), both from Children's Book Trust, New Delhi, ''Sorry, Best Friend'' (1996) and ''One World'', both from Tulika, Chennai, the Target Annuals (1989,1990)and ''The Best of Target''.

She has written a number of columns for children, the longest running of which, 'A Letter to You', a humour column about a 10-year-old boy Perky and his friend Raghu, ran intermittently in the weekly, later monthly, magazine ''Children's World'' for over thirty years. Another column of hers, 'Role Call', about school life, appeared weekly in the ''[[Deccan Herald]]''; and a selection was published in two volumes ''Role Call'' (2003) and ''Role Call Again'' (Rupa, 2003). A third, short lived, column for children was 'Write Hear' in Midday, Mumbai.

As a playwright, her first full-length play, ''Mangalam'', won the award for the most socially-relevant theme in The Hindu-Madras Players Playscripts Competition in 1993. Since then, she wrote a series of plays for both adults and children including ''Inner Laws'' (1994), ''A Pretty Business'' (1995), ''Keats Was A Tuber'' (1996), ''Collages''(1998), ''Alipha'' (2001) and ''Thus Spake Shoorpanakha, So Said Shakuni'' (2001) and ''Yavamajakka'' (a musical for children) (2000). In 2008, ''Samara's Song'' was shortlisted for the Hindu Metro Plus Playwright award.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hindu.com/mp/2008/05/08/stories/2008050850960100.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104075835/http://www.hindu.com/mp/2008/05/08/stories/2008050850960100.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 November 2012|work=[[The Hindu]]|title=Shortlist announcement|date=2008-05-08|accessdate=11 October 2014}}</ref> Six of her plays have been published as ''Women Centre Stage: The Dramatist and the Play'', Routledge, Delhi and London, 2010. She received, in 1999-2001, a senior fellowship of the [[Government of India]] to write plays for children in English. A collection of these plays for children, ''Good Heavens!'' has been published by Puffin, India (2006.

In 1991, a collection of her poetry, ''A Woman Speaks'', was published by [[Writers Workshop (publisher)|Writers Workshop]], [[Calcutta]]. Poile Sengupta also occasionally writes short fiction. Her short story 'Ammulu' was shortlisted for the 2012 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.commonwealthwriters.org/prizes/commonwealth-short-story-prize/shortlisted-author-biographies-2012-short-story-prize/|title=2012 Shortlist|work=Commonwealth Writers|accessdate=11 October 2014|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140522070301/http://www.commonwealthwriters.org/prizes/commonwealth-short-story-prize/shortlisted-author-biographies-2012-short-story-prize/|archive-date=22 May 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In October 2014, her novel ''[[Inga (book)|Inga]]'' was published.<ref name="Inga Crossword">{{cite web|title=Inga|url=http://www.crossword.in/books/inga/p-books-9789384030643.html|accessdate=26 October 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026085025/http://www.crossword.in/books/inga/p-books-9789384030643.html|archivedate=26 October 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

===Acting===
Poile has been an accomplished actor on stage and in film (''The Outhouse'' directed by Leslie Carvalho and ''Shaitaan'' directed by [[Bejoy Nambiar]]). She is the founder of Theatre Club, a [[Bangalore]]-based amateur theatre group. She has been a Member of the Governing Council of [[National School of Drama]], New Delhi. She has also thrice been on the jury of Trinity College, London, international competition of plays for young people.

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://poile.net Official Website]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sengupta, Poile}}
[[Category:1948 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Indian women dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Indian women children's writers]]
[[Category:Indian children's writers]]
[[Category:Indian stage actresses]]
[[Category:Indian film actresses]]
[[Category:Indian women poets]]
[[Category:Indian women short story writers]]
[[Category:Indian women columnists]]
[[Category:Indian columnists]]

Poile Sengupta - Revision history

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