(Image source from: Indian born poet Vijay Seshadri wins Pulitzer Prize 2014})

Bangalore-born poet, essayist and critic, Vijay Seshadri has been conferred the prestigious 2014 Pulitzer Prize for poetry for his collection of poems '3 Sections'. The 98th annual Pulitzer Prizes in Journalism, Letters, Drama and Music were announced in New York yesterday by Columbia University.

Seshadri's '3 Sections' is a "compelling collection of poems that examine human consciousness, from birth to dementia, in a voice that is by turns witty and grave, compassionate and remorseless," the announcement said.

The prize was given to him because of his "distinguished volume of original verse". A Columbia University alum, Seshadri received a $10,000 reward. Seshadri is a teacher of poetry and nonfiction writing at liberal arts college Sarah Lawrence in New York.

Born in Bangalore, India in 1954, Seshadri relocated to America at the tender age of five and grew up in Columbus, Ohio. His collections of poems include award winning ones like ;The Long Meadow' and 'Wild Kingdom' (1996).

Many of his poems, essays, and reviews have made their way into prestigious publications like the American Scholar, the Nation, the New Yorker, the Paris Review, Yale Review, the Times Book Review, the Philadelphia Enquirer and in many anthologies, including Under 35: The New Generation of American Poets and The Best American Poetry 1997 and 2003.

AW: Suchorita Choudhury