Renowned Hindi author, poet Krishna Sobti passes away

Eminent Hindi author and poet Krishna Sobti passed away on January 25, 2019 at a hospital in Delhi. She was 93.

The author had been admitted to a Delhi hospital for the last two months. She was about to complete her 94 years in February. Since the last one week, she was in the ICU. She is a recipient of prestigious awards such as Sahitya Akademi award, Jnanpith and was also offered Padma Bhushan, which she had declined.

About Krishna Sobti

• Born in 1925 in Gujrat, Punjab (now a part of Pakistan), Krishna Sobti was a popular Hindi fiction writer and essayist.

• She was known primarily for writing about issues of female identity and sexuality. She is best known for her 1966 novel Mitro Marjani, an unapologetic portrayal of a married woman's sexuality.

• Sobti also used to write under the pen name of Hashmat and has published Hum Hashmat, a compilation of pen portraits of writers and friends.

• Her other novels included Daar Se Bichchuri, Surajmukhi Andhere Ke, Yaaron Ke Yaar, Zindaginama.

• Some of her well-known short stories were Nafisa, Sikka Badal gaya, Badalom ke ghere. Sobti Eka Sohabata includes her major selected works.

• A number of her works are now available in English and Urdu.

Awards

• Krishna Sobti won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1980 for her novel Zindaginama.

• In 1996, she was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, the highest award of the Akademi.

• In 2017, she received the Jnanpith Award for her contribution to Indian literature.

• She was also the recipient of the first Katha Chudamani Award in 1999 for Lifetime Literary Achievement.

• She also won the Shiromani Award in 1981, Hindi Academy Award in 1982 and Shalaka Award of the Hindi Academy Delhi.

• In 2008, her novel Samay Sargam was selected for Vyas Samman, instituted by the K. K. Birla Foundation.

• In 2005, Dil-o-Danish, translated into ‘The Heart Has Its Reasons’ in English by Reema Anand and Meenakshi Swami of Katha Books, won the Crossword Award in the Indian Language Fiction Translation category.

• In 2010, Sobti was also offered the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award, which she had declined.