Nissim Ezekiel Age, Wiki and Bio

Quick Info

Profession	Poet
Nationality	Indian (1947-2004)
Date of Birth	16/12/1924
Age	79 years (died on 09, Jan, 2004)
Birthplace	Bombay, Bombay Presidency, British India
Date of Death	09/01/2004

Educational Qualification(s)

Bachelor of Arts in Literature	Wilson College, Bombay University
Philosophy	Birkbeck College, London

Personal Life

Religion	Judaism

Relationships & More

Marital Status	Divorced
Marriage Date	Year, 1952

Family

Father

Moses Ezekiel (a professor at Wilson College)

Mother

Diana Ezekiel (Principal at her own school)

Siblings

Brother(s)	2 (names not known)
Sister(s)	2 (Asha Bhende and Lily Ezekiel Talkar)

Spouse

Daizy Jacob Dandekarand

Children

Son	Elkana
Daughter	Kalpana Kavita Ezekiel Mendonca (writer & poet)

Career

First Published work	A Time to Change and Other Poems (1952)
Last Published work	Selected prose (1992)
Awards	Padma Shri (1988) Sahitya Akademi cultural award (1983)

Some Lesser Known Facts

Nissim Ezekiel is recognized as the pioneer of English-language post-independence Indian poetry.
His literary works are included in the NCERT high school curriculum.
Aside from being a poet, Nissim Ezekiel was also active as a broadcaster and social analyst.
He hailed from the Bene Israel community and was a Marathi-speaking Jew from Mumbai.
Nissim began his career as a freelance journalist and also worked for M. N. Roy’s Radical Democratic Party after graduating.
Studying philosophy in London, he attended evening classes in Chinese, Western Philosophy, and Art Appreciation at the City Literary Institute.
Upon returning from London after over three years, he worked as a deck scrubber on a ship.
His writing journey started in the late 1940s.
Nissim held roles as a general manager and advertising copywriter at a picture frame manufacturing company.
He played a role in establishing the literary journal Jumpo in 1961.
Nissim Ezekiel died in Mumbai on 9 January 2004 at the age of 79 due to Alzheimer’s disease.
An authorized biography on Nissim Ezekiel titled Nissim Ezekiel: The Authorized Biography was penned by R. Rao in 2000.