Poet, editor, translator, publisher and curator of the annual Odisha Art & Literature Festival, Manu Dash has published 25 books in Odia and English. While in college, he joined the "Anam Writers' Movement" — an anti-establishment movement in Odia literature — shortly before the imposition of Emergency in India in 1975. He is the founder of Dhauli Books, which won the prestigious "Publishing Next Industry Award for the Best Printed Book of the Year in Indian Languages" in 2018.