Vinod Kumar Shukla (born 1 January 1937) becomes the 59th recipient of Jnanpith Award in 2025. He will be the first writer from Chhattisgarh to receive India’s highest literary honour.
He is a modern Hindi writer known for his style that often borders on magic-realism. His works include the novels Naukar ki Kameez (which has been made into the film of the same name by Mani Kaul) and Deewar Mein Ek Khirkee Rahati Thi (A Window lived in a Wall), which won the Sahitya Akademi Award for the best Hindi work in 1999. This novel has been made into a stage play by theatre director, Mohan Maharishi.
His first collection of poems, Lagbhag Jai Hind, was published in 1971. Vah Aadmi Chala Gaya Naya Garam Coat Pehankar Vichar Ki Tarah was his second collection of poems, published in 1981 by Sambhavna Prakashan. Npoems, aukar Ki Kameez (The Servant’s Shirt) was his first novel, brought out in 1979 by the same publisher. Ped Par Kamra (Room on the Tree), a collection of short stories, was brought out in 1988, and another collection of poems in 1992, Sab Kuch Hona Bacha Rahega.
Vinod Kumar Shukla was a guest litterateur at the Nirala Srijanpeeth in AGRA from 1994 to 1996 during which he wrote two novels: Khilega To Dekhenge and the refreshing Deewar Mein Ek Khirkee Rahati Thi. The latter has been translated into English by Prof. Satti Khanna of Duke University as A Window Lived in a Wall(Publisher : Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 2005). He was presented an artist’s residency by Ektara – Takshila’s Centre for Children’s Literature & Art, where he produced a novel for Young Adults called “Ek Chuppi Jagah”.
