Gopinath Mohanty (1914–1994) was a prominent Odia novelist and short story writer, with a body of work that includes over twenty-two novels, eight collections of short stories, three plays, two books on tribal culture, and seven translations. As a member of the Odisha Administrative Service, Mohanty dedicated much of his career to researching the life and culture of the tribal communities in Odisha. His firsthand experiences allowed him to provide a deeply humanistic portrayal of the Kandha and Paraja tribes. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award for his novel Amruta Santana in 1955 and the Jnanpith Award in 1973 for his novel Matimatala. In 1981, he was honoured with the Padma Bhushan.