Dilip Chitre

 
 

Dilip Chitre (1938-2009) was born in Baroda but lived in Mumbai since his early

teens, graduating from the University of Mumbai 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 had 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 had authored 24 books so far. He was

 

also a film-maker and a painter. He lived 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 Emeritus 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 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 had 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 had 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 was Honorary Editor of the quarterly ‘New Quest’ and was the Honorary President of the Sonthhheimer Cultural Association of which he was also a Founder-Trustee.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

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.

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 Hindi:
Pisati ka Burz:Dileep Chitre ki Chuni Huvi Kavitaayen; Translated by Chandrakant Deotale; Rajkamal; New Delhi;1987.

In Gujarati
i) Milton-na Mahaakaavyo; Translated by Yashwant Doshi and the author; Parichay Pustakavali; Mumbai; 1970.
ii) Kavya Vishva Shreni: Marathi: Dileep Chitre; Translated by Jaya Mehta; Gujarat Sahitya Academy; Gandhinagar.

In German:
i) Das Fallen Des Banyanbaums; translated by Lothar Lutze; Botschaft der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, New Delhi;1980.
ii) BOMBAY/MUMBAI: Bilder einer Mega-Stadt ( with Henning Stegmuller and Namdeo Dhasal) Translated by Lothar Lutze; A-1 Verlag; Munchen.
ii) Worte des Tukaram; Translated by Lothar Lutze; A=1 Verlag; Munchen.
iii) Lotos Blatter 1: Dilip Chitre: Aus dem Englischen und dem Marathi;Translated by Lothar Lutze; Proben Indische Poesie:Lotos Verlag Roland Beer; Berlin,2001.

Paintings and Exhibitions:
1) 1969, First One Man Show of Oil Paintings; Mumbai; India.
2) 1975, Triple Triptych; in collaboration with Peter Clarke and Ahmed Muhammad Imamovic; Iowa City, Iowa; USA.
3) Participation in group shows in India and the Netherlands.
4) Dilip Chitre 63: Mini-Retrospective of Paintings in Pune (1986-2001); Studio S, Pune;2001.
5) In the collection of Air-India International, Mumbai, India; John Deere Inc. Administrative Centre, Moline, Illinois, USA; Dr. Viktor Ionesescu, Iowa City, USA; Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Yaw, Cedar Rapids, USA; Mr. Peter Clarke, Cape Town, South Africa; Marie Jose Van de Loo and Henning Stegmuller, Munich, Germany; Dr. Lothar Lutze, Berlin, Germany; Frau Petra Matusche, Goethe Institute, Germany; Vijay Shinde, Pune; Sujit Patwardhan, Pune; Mrs. Statira Wadia, Pune; Jayant Risbud, Pune; Dr. Sameer Kulkarni, Pune; Bhaskar Hande, Den Haag, The Netherlands; Daniel Weissbort, Iowa City, Iowa, USA/ London United Kingdom; Sanat and Kunda Sashital, Los Angeles, USA; Evonna Lee Landwehr, Evanston, Illinois, USA; Milind and Kirti Gupte, Mumbai; Ganesh Vispute and Shruti Tambe, Pune; Sanjeevani Nerkar, N.Y.City, USA; Vasant Ksheersagar, New Jersey, USA; Bhalchandra Nemade, Mumbai; Ashok Shahane, Mumbai; Sphurti and Ashok Patil, Pune; Ananya Parekh, Mumbai; and others.

Filmography Videography
1) Vijeta; produced by Filmvalas, Mumbai; Directed by Govind Nihalani; Story and Screenplay.
2) Godam produced by the National Film Development Corporation, Mumbai; Screenplay, Direction, and Music.
3) Ardha Satya; Directed by Govind Nihalani; Theme Poem.
4) A Tryst With Destiny; produced by S.S. Oberoi; Script and Direction.
5) Education ’72; produced by S.S. Oberoi; Script and Direction.
6) A Question of Identity; produced by Y.R.Khandekar; Script, Direction, and Narration.
7) Dattu; produced by Dnyada Naik; Script and Direction.
8) Made In India; Producer, Scriptwriter, and Directior; on behalf of the Industrial Design Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Powai, Mumbai.
9) Bombay:Geliebte Moloch; produced by Adanos-Film,Gmbh, Munich, Germany; Co-Scriptwriter and C-Director; Video films Made For The Archives of Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal(1984-85).
10) Shakti Chattopadhyaya: Portrait of the Poet; produced by Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal; Concept, Script, and Direction.
11) Translating Shakti Chattopadhyaya into English: A discussion with Jyotirmoy Datta and Arvind Krishna Meherotra; Concept and Direction; Produced by Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal.
12) Translating Shakti Chattopadhyaya into Hindi a discussion with Kedar Nath Singh and Prayag Shukla; Concept and Direction.
13) Shamsher Bahadur Singh: A Portrait of the Poet; Concept and Direction.
14) Shamsher Bahadur Singh in discussion with Namvar Singh and Ashok Vajpeyi; Concept and Direction; produced by Bharat Bhavan Bhopal.
15) K.Satchidanandan: A Portrait of the Poet and a discussion by Sudha Gopalakrishnan and Rajendra Dhodapkar; Concept and Direction; produced by Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal.
16) In The Darkness of the Twentieth Century: A discussion featuring Shrikant, Verma, Namvar Singh, and Ashok Vajpeyi; Concept and Direction; produced by Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal; 17) Kunwar Narayan: A Portrait of the Poet; Concept and Direction; produced by Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal.
18) B.C.Sanyal: Memories of Life and Art at 82; Concept and Direction. For Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi.
19) Narayan Surve: A Poet of The Proletariat (in Marathi, Hindi and English versions);2000.

Editor
1) Shabda; (1956-1960); Mumbai.
2) New Quest (1978-1980); (2001-); Mumbai.

Columnist
Free Press Journal; Mumbai(1959-1960).
Loksatta; Mumbai.
Dinank; Mumbai.
Ravivar Sakal; Pune.
Quest.
New Quest.
Abhiruchi.

Occasional Book Reviewer/Contributor of Articles
The Indian Express; The Times of India.
Quest.
New Quest.
Granth.
The Illustrated Weekly of India.
Times Weekly.
Biblio.
Gallery.
Kala-Varta.
Sakshatkar.
Poorvagraha