Eminent Marathi litterateur and translator Kavita Mahajan, winner of a 2011 Sahitya Akademi translation award, passed away at a private hospital here on Thursday evening. She was 51.
She was under treatment at the Chellaram Diabetes Hospital here, died of pneumonia.
Born in Nanded, Ms. Mahajan was noted for her trenchant prose which pierced gender barriers and challenged age-old notions about women in literature.
She came from an illustrious family of artists, with her grandfather, the painter Tryambak Vasekar being among the most prominent personalities in the Marathwada region.
Her skilled melding of topical, socio-political issues with her distinct literary style redolent with poetic sensibilities gave her works like Brr (2005) a poignant immediacy.
Brr is a collection of stories about women sarpanch in the aftermath of the formalisation of the Panchayati Raj in the 1990s. Her next major work, Bhinna (2007) delved into the lives of those afflicted with AIDS.
Her fluent translation from Urdu to Marathi of 17 short stories by Ismat Chugtai won her the 2011 Sahitya Akademi prize for best translation. She is also noted for her volumes of poetry including Dhulicha Awaz.
Besides her passionate devotion to feminist causes in her writings, she also penned a collection of short stories for children. This collection, titled Joyanache Ranga won her the Shashikalatai Agashe Award for Children's Literature in 2013.
