Sunita Deshpande ( Thakur; 3 July 1926 – 7 November 2009) was an Indian writer. She was fondly called "Sunitabai".

Career

Deshpande began writing late in her life. She published her memoir ''Aahe Manohar Tari'' (आहे मनोहर तरी) in 1990. The book has been translated into

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

("''Manohar chhe pan''" by Suresh Dalal, SNDT, Mumbai 1992),

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

("''Hai Sabse madhur phir bhi''" by Rekha Deshpande, Orient Longman 1996),

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

("''Balu Sogasadaru''", by Uma Kulkarni, Mahila Sahitya, Hubli) and English ("''..And Pine For What Is Not''", by

Gauri Deshpande Gauri Deshpande (11 February 1942 – 1 March 2003) was a novelist, short story writer, and poet from Maharashtra, India. She wrote in Marathi and English. Biography Deshpande was born in Pune to Irawati and Dinkar Dhondo Karve, youngest of th ...

, Orient Longman, 1995). She was also a prolific correspondent. Her book "प्रिय जी.ए." (translation: ''Dear G.A.''), a collection of correspondence with

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

writer

G. A. Kulkarni G. A. Kulkarni (Gurunath Abaji Kulkarni), or known simply as "GA" (10 July 1923 – 11 December 1987; Marathi: जी. ए. कुलकर्णी, "जीए"), was a legendary Sahitya Akademi Award winner Marathi writer of short stories. G ...

, won her the first "G A Kulkarni Award" for remarkable literary contributions and influence in 2008. She acted in Marathi movie, "''

Vande Maataram ''Vande Mataram'' (Sanskrit: वन्दे मातरम् IAST: , also spelt ''Bande Mataram''; বন্দে মাতরম্, ''Bônde Mātôrôm''; ) is a poem written in sanskritised Bengali by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in the ...

''" based on India's freedom struggle in which she had participated herself, and plays such as "''Sunder mee honaar''", "''Raajemaster''", and "''Rajamaataa Jijaabai''" (a solo show)

Personal life

In 1945, she met

Pu La Deshpande Purushottam Laxman Deshpande (alternatively written as Pu La Deshpande; 8 November 1919 – 12 June 2000), popularly known by his initials ("Pu. La.") or as P. L. Deshpande, was a Marathi writer and humorist from Maharashtra. He was also an ...

and they were married the next year on 12 June 1946. She was a native of Ratnagiri district.

Death

She died in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

on 7 November 2009 due to age. She was 83 years old. Her death occurred a day before her husband's 90th birth anniversary.

Selected works

* आहे मनोहर तरी... (Ahe Manohar Tari...) (Mauj Pub., Mumbai 1990) * प्रिय जी.ए. (Priya G. A. : Collection of letters written in Marathi to writer

)(Mauj Pub., Mumbai 2003) * मण्यांची माळ (Mauj Pub., Mumbai 2002) * मनातलं अवकाश (Mauj Pub., Mumbai 2006) * सोयरे सकळ (Mauj Pub., Mumbai 1998) * समांतर जीवन ("Sammantar Jeevan") (Sun Pub., 1992)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deshpande, Sunita 1926 births 2009 deaths Indian memoirists 20th-century Indian women writers Marathi-language writers Women memoirists Women writers from Maharashtra Writers from Pune 20th-century Indian non-fiction writers 20th-century memoirists