Dhiruben Patel

Dhiruben Patel Biography

Dhiruben Gordhanbhai Patel, popularly called Dhiruben Patel is an accomplished writer of fiction associated with Gujarati language. She also writes in English. She is a recipient of prestigious 2001 Sahitya Akademi Award 2001 for Gujarati language for her novel Agantuk. It was her last published novel. A popular novelist she is also a noted playwright and translator. One of her popular plays - Bhavni Bhavai, has been made to a Gujarati language feature film. She has also written many radio plays and television scripts. She is a former President of the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad. Her notable awards also include - Ranjitram Suvarna Chandrak, the highest literary award in Gujarati literature named after Gujarati writer Ranjitram Mehta.

She was born in Vadodara on May 25, 1926. Her father Gordhanbhai Patel was a journalist with the Bombay Chronicle and her mother Gangaben Patel, a political activist associated with All India Congress Committee. She was brought up in Mumbai where she completed her education. She started writing in an early age and her parents never interfered in her writings. She was supported by her parents and it helped to become a professional writer at a very young age. She shot to fame with her very first novel, Vadvanaal, written in the early 1950s.

She served as an editor of a Gujarati journal Sudha for about a decade since 1966, before she started Kali Prakashan, a publishing house. She was one of the founder editors of this magazine. As a writer, Aandhali Gali; Shimalanan Phool; Waansno Ankur, Javal, Atitrag, Anusandhan and Aagantuk are among her most popular works. She writes in Gujarati and English and has also written a few books for children. She founded Lekhini literary group of women writers around 40 years ago. By the year 1963, she had half a dozen of books to her credit. Though faced losses, she floated two publishing houses. She released 100 kitchen-centric English poems released in 2005, titled - Kitchen Poems.

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Updated: February 27, 2016