Dr. Papineni Sivasankar (born 1953), a doyen of Modern Literature in

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 ...

, recipient of

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 ...

, 2016 is an Indian poet, short story writer, and critic. He has published 52 books including five poetry collections, three short story collections, five essay collections and 39 anthologies. His poetry collections and short story collections were translated into other languages such as

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, and

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. His notable works are ''Rajani Gandha'' (2013), ''Matti Gunde'' (Heart of the Soil 1992) ''Sahityam-Moulika Bhavanalu'' (Literature-Basic Concepts 1996) and ''Talli! Ninnu Dalanchi.''

Early life and career

Born on Vijaya Dipavali 1953 in the village Nekkallu,

Guntur district Guntur district is one of the twenty six districts in the Coastal Andhra region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The administrative seat of the district is located at Guntur, the largest city of the district in terms of area and with a po ...

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 ...

, India. His father Venkata Krishnarao was a former and mother Santamma was a housewife. Sivasankar completed his schooling at K.V.R.Z.P.H.School,

Tulluru Thulluru is a Village in Guntur district of Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located at a distance of 4 km from Krishna River and was a village in Thulluru mandal of Guntur district, prior to its denotification as gram panchayat. D ...

. He did his B.A. at JKC College,

Guntur Guntur () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Guntur district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Guntur is spread across 168.49 km square and is the third-largest city in the state. It is situated to the west of the Ba ...

and stood first in

Andhra University Andhra University (IAST: ''Āndhra Vișvakalāpariṣhat'') is a public university located in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was established in 1926. History King Vikram Deo Verma, the Maharaja of Jeypore was one of the biggest do ...

with Prabhala Sundararamayya Pantulu Gold Medal in 1974. He received his

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree in 1976 at

, Nallapadu branch again with Telikicherla Venkataratnam Gold Medal. His Ph.D. thesis ''Sahityam - Konni Moulika Bhavanalu'' won Tumati Donappa Gold Medal as the best thesis from

Acharya Nagarjuna University Acharya Nagarjuna University (IAST: ''Ācārya Nāgārjuna Vișvavidyālaya'') is a state university in Namburu, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, India. History The university was established as Nagarjuna University by Act 43 of 1976 of A.P. ...

in 1989. He married Gruha Lakshmi in 1977 and with her had two daughters, Srujana and Spandana. And he joined B.S.S.B. College,

Tadikonda Tadikonda is a village in Guntur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located in Tadikonda mandal of Guntur revenue division. It forms a part of Andhra Pradesh Capital Region. Demographics census, Tadikonda village has po ...

as Telugu Lecturer in 1977 and retired as principal of that college in 2010.

Literary works

Starting with ''Stabdhata-Chalanam'' in 1984 Sivasankar published five poetry collections in which the award-winning ''Rajani Gandha'' (2013) is significant. Dr. Papineni's greatness as a poet lies in his vibrant expression, fertile imagination, grandeur of thought and finest human sensibility. His first poem in free verse ''Cheekati nundi Vekuvaku'' was published in Dipavali Special issue of Andhra Jyothi in 1980. And his first short story ''Kalupu Mokka'' was published in Prajatantra weekly, in April 1977. ''Mattigunde'' was acclaimed as one of the 100 best short stories of 20th century. And ''Samudram'' is a unique narrative experiment in second person about the loss of succession to human intellect. Dr. Papineni published three short story collections. His short stories reflect the struggles of farmers, the impact of globalisation on villages in general, and the unrest and distress of human beings in particular. He brought out five books of criticism to his credit including ''Sahityam-Moulika Bhavanalu''. As a critic, Sivasankar evaluated the merits of the classical poetry in Telugu. And with his insights in sociological theories he evolved many a concept like ''Avicchinnata'' (Continuity), ''Nisargata'' (Spontaneity), ''Parayitanam'' (Alienation) to analyze modern Telugu literature. In his exhaustive interview with Dr. C. Mrunalini Sivasankar revealed his exploration in Telugu literature and social culture as well.

Awards and Accolades

* The

, 2016 for his poetry collection ''Rajani Gandha'' * Free Verse Front Award, Hyderabad, 16 December 1985 * Dr. Garikapati Kavita Puraskaram, Rajahmundry, 09 May 1991 * Jyeshta Sahithi Award, Visakhapatnam, 26 June 1993 * Ummidisetty Award, Tadipatri, 1993 * Dr. C. Narayana Reddy Award, Karimnagar, 26 August 1999 *

Telugu University The Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University (PSTU) is one of the few Indian language universities in India. University It was established as "Telugu University" on 2 December 1985 through an Act of Legislation (Act No. 27 of 1985) by the State Legi ...

Vachana Kavitha Puraskaram (1999), Hyderabad, 30 December 2000 * Nutalapati Literary Award, Tirupathi, 15 November 2000 * Nagabhairava Kalapeetham Award, Ongole, 25 January 2002 * Andhra Pradesh Adhikara Bhasha Puraskaram, Tirupati, 28 May 2003 * Andhra Pradesh State Best Teacher Award, 05 September 2003 * Akashvani National First Prize (2004) for 'Chivari Picchika', Trivendram, 05 September 2005 * Viswakalapeetham Snehanidhi Puraskaram, Hyderabad, 01 January 2006 * Visalandhra-Sunkara Sahithi Satkaram, Ongole, 15 September 2006 * Dr. Kethu Viswanatha Reddy Katha Puraskaram, Nandaluru, 13 July 2008 * Dr. Avamtsa Soma Sundar Kavitha Puraskaram, Pithapuram, 18 November 2010 * Andhra Nataka Kala Samithi Award, Bezawada, 18 April 2012 * Navyandhra Rashtra Ugadi Visishta Puraskaram, Anantavaram, 2015 * Srujana Sahithi Puraskaram, Addanki, 16 August 2015 * Devarakonda Balagangadhara Tilak Puraskaram, Tanuku, 29 August 2015 * Bollimuntha Sahithi Satkaram, Tenali, 2017 * Bharathi Samithi Puraskaram, Gudivada, 12 February 2017 * G.S.V. Sahitee Puraskaram, Tanuku, 2017 * Best National Poet honor by Prasara Bharati, Varanasi, 12 January 2017 * Viswadaata Kasinathuni NageswaraRao Pantulu Award, Elakurru, 08 May 2017 * Pucchalapalli Sundarayya Kala Puraskaram, Yadlapadu, 19 May 2017 * Mahakavi Jashua Award, Guntur, 2017 * Mahakavi Tummala Kalapeetham Puraskaram, Guntur, 16 December 2019 * Addepalli RamaMohanaRao Vimarsa Puraskaram, Kakinada, 11 December 2021 * HanumaReddy Sahitee Puraskaram, Ongolu, 24 April 2022 * Jashua Sahitee Puraskaram, Guntur, 27 September 2022 * Kaviraju Tripuraneni Ramaswamy Puraskaram, Guntur, 09 January 2023.

Bibliography

* Stabdhata-Chalanam (Free Verse) (1984) * Oka Saaramsam Kosam (Free Verse) (1990) * Mattigunde (Short Stories) (1992) * Sahityam-Moulika Bhavanalu (Research Thesis) (1996) * Aku Pacchani Lokamlo (Free Verse) (1998) * Oka Khadgam Oka Pushpam (Free Verse) (2004) * Sagam Terichina Talupu (Short Stories) (2008) * Nisanta (Critical Essays) (2008) * Talli! Ninnu Dalanchi (Commentary on Classical Poetry) (2012) * Rajani Gandha (Free verse) (2013) * Dravadhuikata (Social Critique) (2015) * Maha Swapnikudu (Essays on Sri Sri) (2016) * Veda Vyasam (Monograph) (2019) * Ankura (Padya Kavita) (2019) * Nisarga (Critical Essays) (2019) * Adarsa Moortulu (Children Stories) (2019) * Maa Gokhale (Monograph) (2021) * Sarala Rekhalu (Short Stories) 2022

Early life and career

Literary works

Awards and Accolades

Bibliography

References

Further reading