Kanji Patel

Kanji Patel has five poetry collections in Gujarati to his credit—Janpad (The Vicinage), Dungardev (The Mountain Deity), Desh (The Country), Dharatina Vachan (Earth Song) and Amne Naa Bhulataan (Do Not Forget Us)—besides works of fiction and ethnography. Dahelu (translated in English as Rear Verandah), also translated into Marathi, is his best known fictional work. Books of selected poems in English and Hindi translation have been published as Earth Song in English and Dharati ke Vachan in Hindi recently. His poems have been published in print journals such as Indian Literature and Chandrabhaga, and online in Muse India, Asymptote, Cordite Poetry Review, and Antonym. His poems have appeared in Marathi, Bangla, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi, and also in anthologies in Irish, Slovenian and Swedish languages. He has been invited to various national and international literature festivals, including the SAARC and Commonwealth literary meets. He has been a member of Indian writers' groups sent by the Central Sahitya Akademi and National Book Trust to Sweden (1998) and Germany (Frankfurt Book Fair 2013). Patel founded and published 'Vahi', a journal of poetry, rituals and multilingual expression. He has established the Kaleshwari tribal art fair in Mahisagar district to provide a platform for the cultural expression of Adivasis and denotified and nomadic tribes from across India. He has edited the Gujarat, Diu, Daman, Dadra & Nagar Haveli volume of the People's Linguistic Survey of India led by G. N. Devy. Patel has curated contemporary poetry of Adivasi, denotified and nomadic tribes in India in original from 126 languages—400 poems by 370 poets—into English and Hindi translation in two volumes. He has translated into English songs and stories from oral and contemporary literature from tribal and nomadic tribes, and the translations have appeared in the journal 'Indian Literature', some of which were translated with others. He received the Umashankar Joshi Prize (1992) for novel, the Katha Award (1996), the Dhumketu Prize (2008), the Shivshankar Joshi Award (2015), and the Satchidanand Award (2026).