Abburi Chayadevi (13 October 1933 in
Rajahmundry
Rajahmundry, officially known as Rajamahendravaram, is a city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and District headquarters of East Godavari district. It is the sixth most populated city in the state. During British rule, the District of Rajah ...
,
East Godavari district,
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
– 28 June 2019 in
Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...
,
Telangana
Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...
) was a
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
Indian fiction writer. She won the
Sahitya Akademi Award
The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...
in 2005, for her work Tana Margam (Short Stories).
[Sahitya Akademi Awards 2005 - General Information - Know India: National Portal of India]
Biography
Chaya Devi was active in literary circles since the fifties and even in her 70s, was still known as a creative feminist writer. She was born in a
brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...
family She also translated German fiction. Her stories have been translated into English and Spanish besides many Indian languages.
[Women's Writing]
/ref>
She served as librarian at the Jawaharlal Nehru University
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is a public major research university located in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university is known for leading faculties and r ...
, New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...
in the sixties.
She was a council member of Kendra Sahitya Akademi
The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...
(1998-2002).
Chayadevi's husband, Abburi Varadarajeswara Rao, was a writer, critic and former Chairman of the Official Languages Commission
Official Languages Commission is an Indian commission which was constituted by the president of India in pursuance to the provisions stated in the Article-344 of the Indian Constitution. This commission was constituted on June 7, 1955 vide a notif ...
.
She was also the daughter-in-law of Abburi Ramakrishna Rao
Abburi Ramakrishna Rao was a pioneer of modern Telugu literature. He was a progressive Telugu writer, scholar, novelist, playwright, literary critic, humanist, professor of Library Science, and the Librarian. Gurajada Apparao, Rayaprolu Subbarao, ...
, a pioneer of the romantic first and later the progressive literary movement.
Works
*''Anaga Anaga'' (folk stories for children)
*Abburi Chaya Devi Kathalu (short stories), 1991
*Mrityunjaya (long story), 1993
*Tana Margam (short stories-about the exploitation of women in the guise of family bonds).
*Mana Jeevithalu-Jiddu Krishnamurti Vyakhyanalu–3 (Translated)
*Parichita Lekha published as an anthology (Translation of stories by Austrian writer Stefan Zweig)
*Bonsai Batukulu onsai Livesportrays the life of women who live mechanically under the control of family members. Conclusion
Awards
*Ranganayakamma Pratibha Puraskaram,2003
*Telugu University Award, 1996
*Sahitya Akademi Award in Telugu for the Year 2005
References
{{Authority control
2019 deaths
Telugu women writers
Telugu writers
Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Telugu
20th-century Indian women writers
20th-century Indian novelists
Writers from Rajahmundry
20th-century Indian short story writers
Indian women children's writers
Indian children's writers
Women writers from Andhra Pradesh
1933 births