Satyajit Ray as a writer, has gifted the readers some of the best and immortal characters in Bengali Literature. He created popular characters for children in Bengali like Feluda and Professor Shonku- who still remains a bright part of Bengali Literature. The character of FeluDa is of a private detective and Professor Shanku is a scientist.
Ray was an imminent fiction writer. He created the character of Feluda in the year 1965 and the first story of Feluda was published in Sandesh. Feluda stories are actually narrated by his cousin Topshe, kind of Watson to Feluda`s Holmes. The science fiction of Shanku is available to the readers as a diary discovered after the scientist had mysteriously disappeared. Satyajit also wrote a collection of non-sense verse called "Today Bandha Ghorer Dim" which, among other thing, includes a translation piece of Lewis Carrol`s "Jabberwocky". He also wrote short humorous stories of Mullah Nasiruddin in Bengali.
His collection of short stories for adults was published as a collection of 12 stories. He also wrote a story collection named "Golpo 101". Ray`s love and interest for puns and puzzle is reflected in these stories. These short stories give full bridle to his awareness in the macabre, in suspense and other aspects that he cleverly avoided in film, making for an interesting psychological read. Most of his literary piece have been translated into English, and are finding a new group of readers.
Major part of the screenplays of Ray`s films has been published in a literary journal named "Eksan". He also wrote an autobiography about his childhood days named "Jakhan Choto Chilam" (1982, when I was a Child). Ray also wrote essays on films which were published as "Our Films, Their Films" (1976), along with "Bishoy Chalachitra" (1976), "Ekei Bole Shooting" 1979.
In the mid 1990, the essay`s of Ray based on filmed were published in English in the Western countries. "Our Films, Their Films is an anthology of film criticism by Ray. This book contains articles, write ups and personal experiences. The book is presented to the readers in two parts. In the first part Ray discusses about Indian Films and its turning point and then in the second part he tells us about the kind of work in Hollywood, and discuses about specific filmmakers like Charlie Chaplin and Akira Kurosawa, and movements like Italian neo-realism. His book "Bishoy Chalachchitra" was published in translation in 2006 as Speaking of Films. It contains a solid description of his philosophy of diverse aspects of the films.
In the year 1961, Satyajit Ray rejuvenated Sandesh, a children`s magazine founded by his grandfather, to which he continued to add illustrations, verses and stories throughout his life. His stories are modest and entertaining. The subjects included: escapade, detective stories, fancy, science fiction and even horror.
