Akhilesh Panigrahi

Akhilesh Panigrahi (born 26 September 1994) is an Indian Author, Columnist and Screenwriter. He is the author of the book 'Story Shots & Poetry Pints', which is a collection of short stories and poetry.

The book got commendatory reviews from The Times of India, Zee News and The Daily Times. The University of Delhi also praised his literary work in its campus circulated monthly journal DU Beat.

Story Shots & Poetry Pints is a collection of short stories and poetry depicting emotions of love, separation, romance, MusicAL journeys, unexpressed liking, motherhood, environmental awareness, homosexuality in the fashion world and breaking stereotypes in the professional world to travel.

There are poetries on romance, celebrating Durga Puja in the gullies of Kolkata, hostel life, professional experiences and describes the poet's inspiration from an introverted girl. It portrays modern-era literature in its narration of stories on love and poetry on various significant events in an urban youth's life.

He is the nephew of Filmfare award winning Bollywood Art director Sukant Panigrahy.

Early life

Akhilesh was born in Rourkela, a city in northern Odisha to a middle-class family. He studied at the St Paul's School, Rourkela and joined KIIT University in Bhubaneswar for a management course in marketing.

He got selected at the Maharashtra Institute of Technology to continue his studies from the second year of his graduation. He is an adept ad-man and has contributed to the branding and marketing strategies of ICICI Bank, Star Plus, IBM, Sears, Tech Mahindra and The Statesman. He currently works as a brand strategist at a marketing conglomerate in Mumbai.

He also writes regularly for the popular newspapers The New York Times, The Statesman and Infomania.

Awards and recognition

He has received awards from Bollywood dignitaries Shabana Azmi and Om Puri for screenwriting at various national level literature festivals like the Bhubaneswar Literature Festival and the Jaipur Literature Festival.