Anuradha Patil Wins Sahitya Akademi Award 2019 For Her Marathi Poem

The Sahitya Akademi Awards were announced this Wednesday, recognising 23 different writers across 23 different languages. Among these, Anuradha Patil has won the award for her poem Kadachit Ajunahi, written in the Marathi language.

Key Takeaways:

• The Sahitya Akademi Awards were announced this Wednesday, recognising 23 different writers across 23 different languages.
• Anuradha Patil is one of the 23 writers who'll be awarded a cash prize of Rs one lakh and a copper plate.
• She has won the award for her poem Kadachit Ajunahi, written in the Marathi language.
• Her poetry collection 'Kadachit Ajunahi' was released in the year 2017.

"Generally, I avoid speaking of myself and my poetry. At the back of my mind, I explore the possibilities of looking at myself from others' points of view. I was born and brought up in a village, and its environment and cultural ethos deeply influenced me,"- Anuradha Patil

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Early Life

Born to a poor farmer family in the village Pahur in Maharashtra, Anuradha Patil is a highly distinguished author, well known in the Marathi literary circle. Though she was deprived of formal education after high school, she still managed to be one of the most talented poets in Marathi. "Generally, I avoid speaking of myself and my poetry. At the back of my mind, I explore the possibilities of looking at myself from others' points of view. I was born and brought up in a village, and its environment and cultural ethos deeply influenced me," she says.

Literary Body Of Work

She has written four collections of poetry, namely- Tarihee, Diganta, Divasendivas, and Waaluchya Paatrat Manndalela Khel. Apart from this, she also has a number of uncollected poems, some short stories, autobiographical write-ups, and some remarkably brilliant pieces of literary criticism. According to Sahitya Academy, her writing style is made up of an uncomplaining tone, language is terse, style is elegant and poetry is modern. In fact, what makes her stand out is not her writing style but the subject of her work. It is with the use of rural imagery, she conveys the complexity and inner turmoil of this modern world.

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Positions Held

She has had also held a number of positions as below:

• 1977-80: Member of the Executive Body of Marathwada Sahitya Parishad
• 1988-92: Member of the editorial board of the literary journal Pratisthan
• 1993-97: Member of the advisory board of Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi for Marathi
• 2000-04: Member of the Maharashtra Rajya Sahitya Aani Sanskriti Mandal
• 2001-05: Honorary Member of the advisory board of Bhartiya Bhasha Parishad, Kolkata
• 2003-07: Member, General Council of Sahitya Akademi
• 2005- Member, Language advisory body for Marathi of THE POST COLONIAL  JOURNAL OF INDIA-DISCOURSE, Kharagpur

Awards and personal life

She married to Sri Kautikrao Thale Patil on 21 May 1971. She has also won the best poetry award for her creation Digant by Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad, Pune in 1982. In 1986, she won the best creation award for Tarihee by Marathwada Sahitya Parishad, Aurangabad. In 1994, she won the Maharashtra Foundation Award in New York, USA. She was awarded the lifetime achievement award by Shivar Pratishthan, Jintur in 2001. In 2012, she won the Lifetime achievement as a genius and distinguished woman writer by Bahinai Foundation and Jain Foundation, Jalgaon.

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