John Baptist Moraes was born in 1933 in a village called Kallamundkur (also known as Niddodi) near Mangalore.
[1] Moraes received the Sahitya Akademi Award for his collection of Konkani poems Bhitorlem Tufan in 1985.
He received Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar in 1990 and Sandesha Prathistan Literary Award in the year 2000.
Moraes was elected President of the 19th Session of the All India Konkani Parishad held in Margao, Goa, in January 1993.
In the year 2024, his long essay was translated into English (by KonkaniWorld.com of Ullas de Souza in Dubai), upgraded and edited to include and updated (by Pratap Naik SJ) and published as part of the 25th anniversary commemorative volume of 'Sod" (Search), the journal of the Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendr at Alto Porvorim in Goa.