Santanu Kumar Acharya is a National Sahitya Academy Award-winning Indian writer.

Jitendra Narayan Dash, who writes under the pseudonym of Dash Benhur is a Sahitya Akademi award winner writer from Odisha. He was born in Khandapada in Nayagarh district, Odisha. He retired as the Principal of Samanta Chandrasekhar (Autonomous) College, Puri. He is a founder member of Aama Odisha.

Gopal Chhotray (1916–2003) was born in Puranagarh village of Jagatsinghpur district in Odisha, India.

Gourahari Das is a creative writer, journalist and an academician.

Haraprasad Das, is an Odia language poet, essayist and columnist. Das, has twelve works of poetry, four of prose, three translations and one piece of fiction to his credit.

Jagannath Prasad Das is an Indian writer, poet, playwright and novelist who writes in Odia. He has dominated the Odia literary scene for over forty years. His literary oeuvre comprise poetry, plays, short stories, novel, essays, children’s poems and nonsense verse. He has done translations of literary works from different languages into Odia and English. He has done extensive research into Odia art and has published three works on the pictorial arts of the state. He has also done paintings, acted on stage and in films, and taken an active part in social and cultural movements. His writings have been widely translated into Hindi, English and other Indian languages, bringing him national recognition. He has been honoured with awards for his writings, the important ones being the Central Sahitya Akademi award for his poetry, the Nandikar Award for plays, the Sarala Award for short stories and the Saraswati Samman for his poetry. He has been connected with literary, cultural, and charitable organisations and has been member/office holder of these bodies.

Manoj Das is an Indian author who writes in Odia and English. In 2000, Manoj Das was awarded with Saraswati Samman. He was awarded Padma Shri in 2001, the fourth-highest Civilian Award in India, Padma Bhusan in 2020, the third highest Civilian Award in India for his contribution in the field of Literature & Education.

Manoranjan Das was an influential Indian dramatist, and pioneer of modernism in Odia Literature. He was known for his experimentalism and deep socio-political awareness, who became most known in the 1960s with his experimental theatre.

Sitakant Mahapatra is an eminent Indian poet and literary critic in Odia as well as English. He was in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) since 1961 until retiring in 1995, and has held ex officio posts such as the Chairman of National Book Trust, New Delhi since then.

Harekrushna Mahatab was a leader of the Indian National Congress, a notable figure in the Indian independence movement and the Chief Minister of Odisha from 1946 to 1950 and again from 1956 to 1961. He was popularly known by the sobriquet "Utkal Keshari".

Pandit Godabarish Mishra was a poet and notable socialist from Odisha, India. He is known for his contribution to Odia literature.

Binapani Mohanty is an Odia writer, academician.She is well known for her works such as Patadei and Kasturi Mriga. She was a professor in Economics before retiring.She has been awarded Padmashree by Govt of India and Atibadi Jagannatha Das Sammana by Odisha Sahitya Akademi. She has earlier won the Sahitya Akademi Award and Sarala Award. She has served as chairperson of Odisha Lekhika Sansad.

Durga Charan Mohanty (Odia:ଦୁର୍ଗାଚରଣ ମହାନ୍ତି, was an Odia Indian spiritual writer born in 1912 at Biratunga, a village under block Gop, near Konark, Odisha. The Odia Sahitya Akademi has been awarded to him in 1956–58 due to his active involvement in development of Odia language and literature Being a disciple of Swami Nigamananda, he wrote many books and translated Nigamananda's own-written Bengali books to Odia language. He was ପରିଚାଳକ of ନୀଳାଚଳ ସାରସ୍ୱତ ସଂଘ.

Gopinath Mohanty (1914–1991), winner of the Jnanpith award, and the first winner of the National Sahitya Akademi Award in 1955 - for his novel, Amrutara Santana - was a prolific Odia writer of the mid-twentieth century. Satya Prakash Mohanty, Professor of English, Cornell University says: "In my opinion, Gopinath Mohanty is the most important Indian novelist in the second half of the twentieth century."

Ramakanta Rath is one of the most renowned modernist poets in the Odia literature. Heavily influenced by the poets such as T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, Rath experimented greatly with form and style. The quest for the mystical, the riddles of life and death, the inner solitude of individual selves, and subservience to material needs and carnal desires are among this philosopher-poet's favorite themes. His poetry betrays a sense of pessimism along with counter-aesthetics, and he steadfastly refuses to put on the garb of a preacher of goodness and absolute beauty. His poetry is full of melancholy and laments the inevitability of death and the resultant feeling of futility. The poetic expressions found in his creations carry a distinct sign of symbolic annotations to spiritual and metaphysical contents of life. Often transcending beyond ordinary human capabilities, the poet reaches the higher territories of sharp intellectualism. The contents have varied from a modernist interpretation of ancient Sanskrit literature protagonist Radha in the poem "Sri Radha" to the ever-present and enthralling death-consciousness espoused in "Saptama Ritu".

Brajanath Ratha was an Indian poet who wrote in Odia. Brajanath Ratha is internationally recognised and is the recipient of many prestigious awards like the Odisha Sahitya Academy Award, Vishuba Award, Gokarnika Award, First Shudramuni Sahitya Award and Honoured by South Korea's Ambassador, from Global Cooperation Society International, Seol, Republic of Korea for Contribution in World welfare, Cooperation and Services.
Pratibha Ray is an Indian academic and writer of Odia-language novels and stories. She received the Moortidevi Award in 1991.

Mohapatra Nilamani Sahoo, surname also spelt Sahu, was an Indian Odia language short story writer. He received several literary awards over his career, including the 1979 Odisha Sahitya Academy Award for Akasha Patala, and the 1983 Sarala Award and the 1984 Sahitya Akademi Award in Odia, for Abhisapta Gandharba. Sahoo died on 25 June 2016 after multiple organ failures.

Paramita Satpathy is an Indian writer. Paramita is the daughter of Sahitya Akademi Award winner poet Pratibha Satpathy and Nityananda Satpathy.