Kedarnath Agarwal


Kedarnath Agarwal was a Hindi language poet and writer.

Biography

Agarwal was born on 1 April 1911 to Hanuman Prasad Gupta and his wife Ghasiti Devi in the village of Kamasin in Banda district in the Bundelkhand region of the present-day Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. He acquired B.A. and L.L.B. degrees, and became a practising advocate in Banda in 1938.
He was a member of the Pragatisheel Lekhak Sangh, a body inspired by the leftist Progressive Writers' Movement. His writings have been translated into English, German, and Russian.
Agarwal received the Soviet Land Nehru Prize in 1973 and the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1986. In 1995, Bundelkhand university conferred an honorary doctorate in literature upon him. Other accolades included the Hindi Sansthan Uttar Pradesh Puraskar, Tulsi Puraskar, Mythili Sharan Gupta Puraskar, and the Sahitya Vachaspati Manad Upaadhi.
Agarwal served as president of the Arya Kanya Intermediate College for many years. He was associated with the Vinoba Bhave College located in Kamasin village, his birthplace. He also served for one year as president of the local Bar Association in Banda.
Agarwal was married to Parvati Devi. The couple had two daughters and a son. Agarwal died on 22 June 2000.

Published work

Agarwal's published books are:
The Kedar Shod Peeth is a foundation dedicated to commemorating Kedarnath Agarwal's contributions to literature. Every year, it awards the Kedar Samman to a writer for outstanding contributions to literature.