Prof. (Dr.) Gayatribala Panda is a distinguished Odia poet, fiction writer, literary critic, columnist, academician, and editor. With an impressive oeuvre of 39 published books, she was honoured with the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award (Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award) in 2022 for her Odia poetry collection Dayanadi (River Daya) and the first recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar in Odia for her poetry collection Gaan (The Village). In 2012, she was named one of the ten best young writers in the country by The Indian Express (Eye Magazine). She served as a Writer-in-Residence at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in 2015. Her numerous accolades include the State Youth Award for Poetry, Times Power Women Award (2021 & 2023), The New Indian Express Devi Award (2023), Femina Achievers Odisha Award (2025), and IIMC Alumni of the Year (2023), among others.