G. N. Devy

Ganesh N. Devy (born 1950), formerly professor of English at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, a renowned literary critic and activist is founder and director of the Tribal Academy at Tejgadh, Gujarat, and director of the Sahitya Akademi’s Project on Literature in Tribal Languages and Oral Traditions. He was educated at Shivaji University, Kolhapur and the University of Leeds, UK. Among his many academic assignments, he has held fellowships at Leeds and Yale Universities and has been a Jawaharlal Nehru Fellow (1994-96). He is an active participant in the functioning of Bhasha Academy.

Currently (2002 - ), he is a Professor at the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology (DA-IICT), Gandhinagar.

Awards

He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for `After Amnesia', and the SAARC Writers’ Foundation Award for his work with denotified tribals. He has also won the reputed Prince Claus Award (2003) awarded by the Prince Claus Fund for his work for the conservation of the history, languages and views of oppressed communities in the Indian state of Gujarat.

His Marathi book Vanaprasth has received six awards including the Durga Bhagwat memorial Award and the Maharashtra Foundation Award.

Along with Laxman Gaikwad and Mahashweta Devi, he is one of the founders of The Denotified and Nomadic Tribes Rights Action Group (DNT-RAG).

Publications

• Critical Thought (1987)
• After Amnesia(1992)
• Of Many Heroes (1997)
• India Between Tradition and Modernity (co-edited, 1997)

In Another Tongue (2000)

• Indian Literary Criticism: Theory & Interpretation (2002).
• Painted Words: An Anthology of Tribal Literature (editor, 2002).
• A Nomad Called Thief (2006)
• Keywords: Truth (contributor, date unknown)
• Vaanprastha (in Marathi, date unknown)
• Adivasi Jane Che (in Gujarati, date unknown).
• The G.N. Devy Reader' ( 2009)

External links

• The Hindu Article
• Devy talks about life and death of languages on TED
• Transcription of Devy's TED talk about life and death of languages