The great literary figure of Malayalam and Jnanpith Award winner M T Vasudevan Nair, who had been undergoing treatment at a private hospital here following heart failure, has died, hospital sources said on Wednesday.
Gulzar said communal harmony is being harmed to such a level that people are not allowed to even talk with freedom.
Eminent Punjabi writer and Padma Shri winner Dalip Kaur Tiwana decided to return her award protesting "recurrent atrocities" on Muslims in the country, as another Kannada writer joined authors giving up their Sahitya Akademi Awards against "growing intolerance".
The noted writer said the space for dissent has vanished and dissenters are now being attacked with sticks, stones, black paint and even murder.
S L Bhyrappa, who passed into the ages last week, remains an enigma, with his clear and unwavering voice resonating through his writings. Standing apart from the literary trends over the course of the last fifty years, he succeeded in establishing his own style, sensibility and creative tradition, points out Shridhar C R.
Jayant Narlikar wrote alternative what-if histories, explained difficult scientific theories with funny analogies, and leavened his lectures with jokes and humorous asides.
The noted writer, who was awarded D.Lit (Doctor of Letters, honoris causa) by the Central University of Hyderabad few years ago, said the institution has "acted against human dignity and knowledge."
A former IAS officer, historian and novelist, Vishwas Patil makes his debut as a director with Kangana Ranaut starrer Rajjo.
The author was flooded with a barrage of hate messages following his tweet in support of writers who returned their Sahitya Akademi awards.
Shrilal Shukla, author of the iconic Raag Darbari and a winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award, passed away last week. In a touching tribute, Sidharth Monga revisits Shukla's most famous work, in which he created a "world inhabited by 'Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro' on crack, minus the momentary optimism"
Kamleshwar, who was ailing for sometime, died around 8.30 pm following a heart attack, his family sources said.
'Dadri was an extension of the cultural fascism that was happening in the country.' 'All the people in the country suffered under the Emergency, but now we see one community trying to crush the other community. Do they know what is brewing in the minds of the other side? What is happening today can lead to a very dangerous situation in the country.' 'We have lost religious tolerance in today's India.' Writer Sarah Joseph on why she returned her Sahitya Akademi Award.
'Today, Bengaluru is here because of hardworking people from other states who put in all the effort to develop this city. Don't forget that! Now that everything is built, do you want others to leave? Shame on Kannada people and the government of Karnataka for sitting idly by (sic)'
Thayil, the author of 'Narcopolis' and winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award, will join his fellow judges to look for the best works of translated fiction, selected from entries published in the UK and Ireland between May 2019 and April 2020.
Leading writers Nayantara Sahgal and Shashi Deshpande on Wednesday sought a strong condemnation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of Dadri lynching incident and opposition to Ghulam Ali's concert.
'Communal tension and violent mobs have been part of our country, whichever government is in power. What has happened since the BJP came into power is that individuals or group activities asserting Hindutva have become louder, more aggressive.' 'Now we are finding ourselves in a country where reasoning and thinking have no place, the power lies with the goons.' 'I find any ban, whether on what we write, what we eat, how we dress etc, absolutely abominable. They have no place in a democracy.' Shashi Deshpande on why she joined the writers' protest against the growing intolerance in India.
He also wrote the lyrics of Hosh waalon ko khabar kya from Sarfarosh.
He was known for his work in Mumbai Dinank, which was his first novel, and the book Simhasan, which was adapted into a Marathi film.
Novelists are speaking for millions across India who are alarmed at where this country is headed.
Eminent Gujarati novelist, poet and critic Raghuveer Chaudhary has been chosen for the prestigious Jnanpith Award for 2015, the literary organisation has announced.
The 91-year-old went beyond her role as a writer to help tribals in organising themselves in groups so that they could take up development activities in their own areas.
Gulzar, best known for penning memorable hits like 'Tujhse Naaraaz Nahi' and 'Tere Bina Zindagi Se' besides directing critically acclaimed films like 'Aandhi' and 'Mausam', was on Saturday chosen for the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke award, the highest official recognition for film personalities in India.
Sahitya Akademi winner Vikram Sampath has stepped down as the director of Bangalore Lit Festival in the wake of three Kannada writers deciding to boycott the event.
Olympic medallist boxer Vijender Singh, who joined the farmers' agitation at the Haryana-Delhi border on Sunday, said he will return his Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award if the Centre's new farm laws are not withdrawn.
Professor TJ Joseph, whose hand was chopped off by activists of the Popular Front of India for alleged blasphemy 12 years ago, on Wednesday declined to respond to the Centre's ban on the radical Islamic outfit, saying observing silence was better at times than always talking.
Tamil writer D Jayakanthan, who charted a new course in Tamil literature, died on Wednesday night following a prolonged illness.
Poet Ashok Vajpeyi on Friday said he won't participate in a cultural festival as he was scheduled to because the organisers asked him not to read poems critical of the government. A spokesperson from the Rekhta Foundation, which is co-organiser of the session, denied his claim that he was being censored.
A poet, a novelist, a columnist and writer of short stories and travelogues, Dev Sen was also known for her research on the Ramayana.
'I am not in favour of the hijab myself.' 'I personally think it wrong to make women shut themselves out of the world, where there is so much to see.' 'But I can't dictate to others about what they should wear.'
Rijiju said that at present, there is no proposal to ban right-wing group Santhan Sanstha.
An unidentified body with two bullet injuries has been found at a village in Belagavi district and police were verifying if it resembled the sketch of one of the two killers of writer M M Kalburgi, who was gunned down at Dharwad in August.
The author's remarks come in the light of more than 50 historians, including the noted Romila Thapar, voicing their protest against the "highly vitiated atmosphere prevailing in the country, characterised by various forms of intolerance".
The Janata Dal-United parliamentary board chief latched on to reports of KS Eshwarappa, a minister in the BJP-ruled southern state, having said that the tricolour may be replaced by a saffron flag sometime in the future.
Another 24 filmmakers including Kundan Shah of "Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro" fame and Saeed Mirza and writer Arundhati Roy today returned their National Awards over "growing intolerance", voicing fears that the country's robust democracy might be "coming apart" in the current atmosphere.
Poet, artist and award-winning diplomat Abhay K whose sixth book Candling the Light was released recently at the Sahitya Akademi in New Delhi tells Rediff about his life in the Indian Foreign Service and how he maintains a balance between his career and creative life.
'I don't feel like going back to India, to the old Delhi that I grew up in. Because the place doesn't exist anymore.'
The unidentified body found with two bullet injuries at a village in Belagavi district was not of one of the two killers of writer M M Kalburgi, but a criminal who was killed by his two brothers and his friend, a senior police official said here on Sunday.
'Listen to the voice in your head and keep your inner sanctum safe.'
'The writers fear that the fringe is threatening to become the mainstream and the liberal space -- a must for any creative expression -- is fast shrinking,' says Mohammad Asim Siddiqui.
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