Kamleshwar

Kamleshwar (1932-2007) was among the pioneers of the Nayee Kahani movement in Hindi literature in the 1950s. He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi award in 2003 for his novel Kitne Pakistan, and the highest civilian honour of Padma Bhushan in 2006 for his contribution to Hindi literature.

Kamleshwar's work with Katha: "Not Flowers of Henna" translated from the Hindi by Jai Ratan.

Alka Saraogi

She is a well-known contemporary Hindi writer. She has three novels and two short story collections to her credit. Her first novel, Kali-Katha: via Bypass, was seen as a sign of revival of the Hindi novel. It won the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award in 2001 and Srikant Verma Award in 1998. It has been translated into Urdu, English, French, and Italian, and is being translated into Bengali, Marathi, Gujrati, Oriya, and Tamil. Her second novel, Shesh Kadambari, is being translated into Bangla, Urdu and Oriya besides Italian and French.

Alka Saraogi's work with Katha: "Over to you, Kadambari" translated from the Hindi by Vandana R Singh.

Maitreyi Pushpa

In the past nine years, she has become the urgent voice of blood, sweat and tears fiction about Bundelkhand and its people, especially the trodden but strong-willed women. Breaking convention, setting rules, she has to her credit five novels (Idannamum and Chaak being novels of note) and three collections of short stories.

Born in Sikurar Village, Aligarh district, UP, Maitreyi Pushpa is a recipient of many Awards, she has written consistently about rural India, keeping Panchayats as a central issue in her stories, and has endeavoured to explore the web of human relationships in a time of moral ambivalence and social uncertainty. She is the recipient of many accolades including the SAARC Literary Award for Alma Kabutari, the Premchand Samman and the Sahityakar Samman.

In her words, "Women have come a long way from their position of subordination to carving out a niche for themselves. They have had to bear harassment and torture to bring about this change. There are hopes resting on the new generation that they will be able to take up the challenges of the day and take this movement forward."

Her latest title with Katha, "Alma Kabutari" has been translated from Hindi, by Raji Narasimhan.

Krishna Sobti

Writer par excellence, Krishna Sobti's contributions to Indian literature transcends all cultural boundaries. Her innovative use of language, technique and refreshing delineation of strong women characters have opened new vistas in Hindi literature.

One of the most creative and engaging aspects of Krishna Sobti's writings is her lively language. Her contribution to Hindi is immense. She has not only added a multitude of new words and expressions to the language, but also experimented with and successfully introduced new styles and techniques of writing. Krishna Sobti has a number of enthralling and exquisite literary works to her credit, which include Daar Se Bichhudi, Mitro Marjani, Surajmukhi Andhere ke, Zindaginama, Ai Ladki, Hum Hashmat, Yaaron ke Yaar, Teen Pahad, Badalon ke Ghere, Sobti Ek Sohbat, and Samay Sargam, amongst others. Each of these works have an unusual use of the Hindi language, highly coloured with the flavour of the region the story is set in, Punjab in Daar se Bichhudi; and Rajasthan in Mitro Marjani.

Her writings cover a vast range of issues, including partition, upheaval and turmoil in Indian society, man-woman relationship, feudalism and dissolution of human values. Her works have been translated into various Indian and foreign languages - Ai Ladki into Swedish and English, Sobti Ek Sohbat into Swedish and Urdu and Mitro Marjani into Russian.

She is the first Hindi woman writer to receive the Sahitya Akademi Award for her magnum opus, Zindaginama. She is also the recipient of the first Katha Chudamani Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement, conferred on her in 1999. Other notable awards to her credit include the Hindi Akademi Award, Shiromani Award, Maithili Sharan Gupt Samman, Shalaka Samman, Sadbhavana Puraskar, and various fellowships including the exclusive Shimla and Punjab University Fellowships and the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship.

Krishna Sobti lives in Delhi and is currently working on a number of manuscripts including Gujrat se Gujrat. She stays in our minds as a gutsy, indomitable woman who likes to live life on her own terms and who - as a writer and as an individual - has created a niche for herself in Hindi literature that is rightfully hers.

The Tribune
"Here is a writer deeply rooted in the integrated human experience who believes in combining both male and female elements creatively in the content."

Outlook

"Krishna Sobti allows freedom even to her characters, so they can speak out her silences."

HindustanTimes.com

"Krishna Sobti is one of the revered sentinels of modern Indian literature."

Krishna Sobti's award-winning work "The Heart has its Reasons" has been translated from Hindi by Reema Anand and Meenakshi Swami, for Katha.