Pradnya Pawar

Pradnya Pawar is a leading Dalit-feminist poet and one of the most important names in Marathi poetry today Her poetry is a statement of her comprehensive experience. She comes from a family that performed tamasha) – an open, no-bar, no-taboo folk form. Ditto her poetry! It defies even the framework of traditional defiance. In her very first collection entitled Antastha (Inner one 1993), she tried to bring Dalit poetry out of its caste-centric limitations. Her poetry is personal and hence political. It can’t be apolitical. Her poetry is that of a Dalit Panther, a she-panther for whom the jungle with its wild abandon is also poetry. She has four more volumes of poetry: Antastha Utkat Jivghenya Dhagiwar (On Ardent Fatal Heat 2002), Mi Bhidavu Pahatey Samagrashi Dola (I am Eying the Totality 2007), Aarpaar Layit Pranantik (See through Melody of Death 2009), Drushyancha Dhobal Samudra (Shallow Ocean of Visuals) ). She also has a two-act play, Dhadant Khairlanji (Blatant Khairlanji) ), a collection of short stories, Afwa Khari Tharavi Mhanun (So that Rumours be True) ), and a book of column-writing, Kendra Ani Parigh (Center and Circumference) ), to her credit. She won the Bodhivardhan Puraskar by Babasaheb Ambedkar Shatamanotsav Committee Trust in 2010, the Maharashtra Foundation (USA) and the Birsa Munda Sanman Puraskar by Ramnika Foundation in 2009.