Sachidanand Mohanty is a Professor in the Department of English at the University of Hyderabad and has received national and international distinctions including those from the British Council and the Fulbright Foundation. His monograph for Sahitya Akademi's Makers of Indian Literature series profiles Sarala Devi (1904–1986), an Odia poet, novelist, short story writer, critic, translator, freedom fighter, feminist, and educationist of exceptional range.