Katha Prize Stories: 10

Asha Kardaley is a Marathi novelist, focussing on women's issues and gender. Among the many awards she has received, two are from the State of Maharashtra.

Gautam Sengupta is a writer in Bengali language. He has written several short stories which have been published in well-known Bengali magazines.

Jhaverchand Meghani, an illustrious name in Gujarati literature, was a renowned folklorist and a pioneering researcher, who carried out painstaking excavation of the folklore of Saurashtra and wrote many scholarly treatises on its various aspects preserved mostly by rote. He had received the prestigious Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak in 1929 for his research in folk literature and the Mahida Paritoshik for Mansai-na Diva.

K P Ramanunni has several books to his credit. His works have been translated and published in many other Indian languages. He has received a number of awards, which include the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 1995 for his novel Sufi Paranja Katha and the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award in 2017 for Daivathinte Pusthakam.

Kuladhar Saikia has been writing short stories, poems, critical essays and plays right from his school days. Winner of the Katha Award for Creative Fiction and the Sahitya Akademi Award, he was appointed as the DGP of Assam Police in 2018.

Lamabam Viramani has a number of publications to his credit which include collections of short stories, science books and articles in newspapers. He has been an active member in various councils and fora relating to literature and teaching and has also worked as an editor with some leading journals. He has received various awards including the Sahitya Akademi Award for Chekla Paikhrabada, a short story collection.

Manoj, a doctor by profession, has written more than fifty short stories for radio and for magazines, thirty of which have been published in the original and as translations.

Motilal Jotwani is the writer of around fifty books in Sindhi, Hindi and English. He has a doctorate in Sindhi and is a reader at Deshbandhu College, New Delhi. He was the editor of Indian Author, a quarterly jounral of the Author's Guild of India, New Delhi. He has received numerous prizes and awards and has been honoured by the President of India for services to Sindhi literature.

Perumal Murugan is an Indian writer and scholar in the Tamil language. He has six novels, four collections of short stories and four anthologies of poetry to his credit. He has also served as the Professor of Tamil at the Government Arts College in Namakkal.

Pugazh is the pen name of Ra Pugazhendhi who has been working in the Tamil film industry.

Raj Mohan Jha comes from an illustrious family of Maithili litterateurs. His published works include Ek Aadu Ek Ant, Jhoota Saanch, Ek Ta Tesar, Aai Kaalhi Parasoo. He has received the Vaidehi Puraskar from the Mathili Sanskrit Parishad and the Sahitya Akademi Award. He has a Masters in Psychology from the Patna University and retired as Deputy Director, Employment, Government of Bihar.

Ramachandra Behera has many short story collections, novels, radio and stage plays to his credit. Three of his plays have won prizes in competitions. He has a PhD in English literature and teaches at Kendrapara College. He has been awarded and felicitated by a number of literary and cultural organizations in the state.

Ramkumar Tiwari was an engineer who has written many articles in national dailies and magazines and has several poems to his credit.

Sajid Rashid is a social activist who is a recipient of the Maharashtra Urdu Academy Award in the Best Short Stories Book category in 1980 and 1990, and their Outstanding Journalist Award in 1981.

Sithara S won the first prize in the All Kerala Short Story Competition conducted by Vanitha, one of the leading women's journals in Kerala. Many of her stories and poems have been published in leading Malayalam journals.

Soharab Hossain, a PhD in Bangla, has written poems, short stories, novels and essays and has received awards for his short stories and novels.

V Chandrasekhar Rao was a prominent Telugu novelist, known for his magic realist style.