Dilip Chitre (1938--) was born in Baroda but lived in Bombay since his early teens, graduating from the University of Bombay in 1959 and thereafter living in places such as Asella and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, Iowa City in the USA, Bhopal and Pune in India and travelling widely in four continents. Best known for his poetry in English and Marathi, Chitre has also written short fiction, plays, essays, and criticism. His work has been translated into most major Indian languages as well as into English, German, Spanish, French, Japanese and Hungarian. A winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award (1994) for his Marathi book of poems Ekoon Kavita-1 and the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize (1994) for his English translation of the poetry of the 17th century Marathi poet-saint Tukaram---Says Tuka (Penguin Classics,1991)---Chitre has authored 24 books so far. He is also a film-maker and a painter. He lives in Pune, Maharashtra with his family.

Among Chitre’s honours and awards are several Maharashtra State Awards, the Prix Special du Jury for his film ‘Godam’ at the Festival des Trois Continents at Nantes in France in 1984, the Ministry of Human Resource Development’s Emeritua Fellowship, the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program Fellowship, the Indira Gandhi Fellowship, the Villa Waldberta Fellowship for residence given by the city of Munich, Bavaria, Germany and so forth. He was D.A.A.D. ( German Academic Exchange)Fellow and Writer-in-Residence at the Universities of Heidelberg and Bamberg in Germany in 1991-92. He was Director of Vagarth, Bharat Bhavan Bhopal and the convenor-director of Valmiki World Poetry Festival ( New Delhi,1985) and International Symposium of Poets ( Bhopal, 1985), a Keynote Speaker at the World Poetry Congress in Maebashi, Japan (1996) and at the Ninth International Conference on Maharashtra at Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA in 2001 and Member of the International Jury at the recent Literature festival Berlin, 2001;

He was member of a three-writer delegation ( along with Nirmal Verma and U. R. Ananthamurthy) to the Soviet Union (Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia), Hungary, the Federal Republic of Germany and France in the spring and summer of 1980 and to the Frankfurter Buchmesse in Frankfurt, Germany in 1986; he has given readings, lectures, talks, participated in seminars and symposia, and conducted workshops in creative writing and literary translation in Iowa City, Chicago, Tempe, Paris, London, Weimar, Saint Petersberg, Berlin, Frankfurt, Konstanz, Heidelberg, Bamberg, Tubingen, Northfield, Saint-Paul/Minneapolis, New Delhi, Bhopal, Mumbai, Kochi, Vadodara, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Pune, Maebashi, and Dhule among other places;

He has travelled widely in Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America as well as in the interiors of India; been on the visiting faculty of many universities and institutions, a consultant to projects; he is Honorary Editor of the quarterly  ‘New Quest’ and is the Honorary President of the Sonthhheimer Cultural Association of which he is also a Founder-Trustee;

BIBLIOGRAPHY

In Marathi:

1) Kavita; Mouj Prakashan, Mumbai; 1960;

2) Orpheus; Mouj Prakashan; Mumbai;1968;

3) Sheeba Raneechya Shodhaat; Majestic Prakashan; Mumbai;1969;

4) Kavitenantarchyaa Kavita; Vacha Prakashan; Aurangabad;1978;

5) Chaavyaa; Pras Prakashan; Mumbai; 1983;

6) Dahaa By Dahaa; Pras Prakashan,; Mumbai; 1983;

7) Mithu Mithu Porat ani Sutak; Saket Prakashan,Aurangabad;1989;

8) Tirkas Ani Chaukas;Lok Vangmay Griha; Mumbai;1980;

9) Punha Tukaram;S.K.Belvalkar,Pune; 1990; 2nd edition: Popular Prakashan;Mumbai, 1995;3rd edition:Popular Prakashan,Mumbai;2001;

10) Shatakaanchaa Sandhikaal; Lok Vangmay Griha; Mumbai;

11) Bhau Padhye Yanchyaa Shreshtha Kathaa( Editor); Lok Vangmay Griha, Mumbai;1995;

12) Ekoon Kavita-1; Popular Prakashan; Mumbai;1992;2nd edition:1995;

13) Ekoon Kavita-2; Popular Prakashan; Mumbai;1995;

14) Ekoon Kavita-3; Popular Prakashan; Mumbai;

15) Chaturang; Popular Prakashan; Mumbai;1995;

In English:

1) An Anthology of Marathi Poetry (1945-1965); (Editor); Nirmala-Sadanand; Mumbai; 1968;

2) Ambulance Ride; Self; Mumbai; 1972;

3) Travelling In A Cage; Clearing House; Mumbai; 1980;

4) The Reasoning Vision : Jehangir Sabavala’s Painterly Universe; Introduction and Notes on the paintings by Dilip Chitre;

5) Tata-McGraw-Hill; New Delhi; 1980;

6) Tender Ironies: A Tribute To Lothar Lutze (Editor); Manohar; New Delhi;1994;

7) Shri Jnandev’s Anubhavamrut : The Immortal Experience of Being; Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi; 1996;

8) The Mountain; Vijaya Chitre; Pune; 1998;

9) No-Moon Monday On The River Karha; Vijaya Chitre; Pune;2000;