Udaya Narayana Singh currently holds a Professorial Chair at Rabindra Bhavana, Visva-Bharati. He was also the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Visva-Bharati between Aug 20, 2010 and June 15, 2012. Until June 2009, Professor Singh was the Director of the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysore.


A renowned linguist as well as a reputed poet, playwright and essayist in Maithili and Bengali. And occasionally writing in Hindi, Singh had set up the Centre for Applied Linguistics and Translation Studies (CALTS), Centre for Distance Education and the Study India Program (SIP) at the University of Hyderabad, and has taught at the Universities of Delhi, Baroda and Surat.


A poet-invitee at the London Book Fair (2009) —India Through Fresh Eyes, Frankfurt Book Fair (2006)—India Guest of Honour presentation—and the leader of the Cultural Delegation of Writers to China (2007), and member of delegations to Trinidad & Tobago (2003), UNESCO, Paris (2011), and Dhaka (2011), Professor Singh has visited and lectured in Bangladesh, the Caribbean, China, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, the U.K. and the USA, and has received several grants, awards and honors.


As a creative writer, Udaya Narayana Singh has published four collections of poems and twelve plays in Maithili (he writes under the pen-name 'Nachiketa'), and six books of literary essays and two volumes of poetry in Bengali, besides translating several books. His recent publications include an anthology of poems in Maithili—Madhyampurush Ekvachan (2005), translated into English (2006), Tamil (2008) and German (2009); a play in Maithili—No Entry: Maa Pravisha (2008) which received the Keertinarayan Mishra Award 2009; a collection of one-acts—Priyamvadaa aa anya ekaankii (2008) in Maithili; a collection of nonsense rhymes—Khaam-kheyaali (2003) in Bengali; and India Writes: A Story of Linguistic and Literary Plurality(2006). The latest to appear are: Translation as Growth. (2010, Pearson/Longman), Bhashar Sahitya: Sahityer Bhasha. ( Anushtup, 2010), Upanyaser sahityatattva. (Sahitya Sansad, 2010), English Language Education in South Asia: From Policy to Pedagogy (Cambridge University Press, 2011 with Leslie Farrell & Ram Giri), and Esecho eso raat, a collection of Bangla rhymes ( Sahaj Path, 2011). He has also co-edited Collins English-Hindi Dictionary(2011).


Singh, with Probal Dasgupta, has been the general editor of the 'Language and Development' series (LAD) from Sage, Chief Editor of the journal – Indian Linguistics, Co-editor of the international journal and e-zine called Translation Today, and the general editor of the Longman–CIIL series of English-to-Indian Languages series of bilingual dictionaries from Pearson - six of which are due to be published in 2010. Click here to view his full CV