Arebhashe or Aregannada or Gowda Kannada is a dialect of Kannada mainly by Gowda communities in the region Madikeri, Somwarpet, and Kushalnagar taluks of Kodagu district, Sullia, taluks of Dakshina Kannada district; Bangalore and Mysore districts in the Indian state of Karnataka. As well as Bandadka, Kasaragod District in the Indian state of Kerala, Arebhashe is also called Gowda Kannada. The language was recognized by the Karnataka State government and formed an academy in 2011 to preserve the culture and literature of the Arebhahse Region which is named as Karnataka Arebhashe Samskruthi mathu Sahitya Academy supported by then Chief Minister D. V. Sadananda Gowda.
Purohita Thirunarayanaiyengar Narasimhachar, commonly known as PuTiNa, was a playwright and poet in the Kannada language. Along with, Kuvempu and D. R. Bendre, he forms the well-known trio of Kannada Navodaya poets. He was a Sahitya Akademi fellow and the winner of the Pampa Award, awarded by the Government of Karnataka in 1991.
S. Joseph is an Indian poet writing in Malayalam in the post modern era. He was born in the village of Pattithanam near Ettumanoor. He has published a number of works on contemporary issues that affect the common man and also the ones who toil in the lower rungs of the society. His poetry collection Uppante Kooval Varakkunnu won the 2012 Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award.
Chandrashekhara Kambara is a prominent Indian poet, playwright, folklorist, film director in Kannada language and the founder-vice-chancellor of Kannada University in Hampi also president of the Sahitya Akademi, country's premier literary institution, after Vinayak Krishna Gokak (1983) and U.R. Ananthamurthy (1993). He is known for effective adaptation of the North Karnataka dialect of the Kannada language in his plays, and poems, in a similar style as in the works of D.R. Bendre.
L. Gundappa (1903-1986) was a distinguished professor of Kannada literature at Bangalore University who played a pivotal role in the revival of Kannada literature. Inspired by his mentor, B. M. Srikantaiah, Gundappa made significant contributions to the field, particularly in the areas of translation and promoting world literature to Kannada readers.
Hulkuntemath Shivamurthy Sastri Shivaprakash is a leading poet and playwright writing in Kannada. He is professor at the School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He heads the Cultural Centre at Berlin, known as the Tagore Centre, as Director run by Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). He has seven anthologies of poems, twelve plays, and several other books to his credit. His works have been widely translated into English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Polish, Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu. His plays have been performed in Kannada, Hindi, Meitei, Rabha, Assamese, Bodo, Tamil and Malayalam. Shivaprakash is also a well-known authority on vachana literature, Bhakti movements of India, and Sufi and other mystic traditions.
Baraguru Ramachandrappa is an Indian essayist, lyricist, screenwriter, film director, socialist, writer, novelist, predominantly works in Kannada language and President of the Textbook Revision Committee, in Karnataka Text Books Society (KTBS) from May 2015. In 2008, he was given an honorary doctorate by the Kuvempu University and Rani Channamma University, Belagavi, Karnataka.
Simpi Linganna, was a writer of the Kannada language. He is known for his immense contribution for folk literature. He was the President of 62nd Kannada Sahitya Sammelana which was held at Koppal in 1992.
Shankar Mokashi Punekar was a well known writer in the Kannada Language. He was a recipient of the Sahitya Academy award for his novel Avadheshwari. He was considered as one of the major writer in the Modern Kannada Literature. His novel Gangavva Gangamayi was the magnum opus in the history of Kannada Literature. Gangavva Gangamayi, Avadheshwari (Novels), Bilaaskhaan (Story), Maayiya Mooru Mukhagalu (Poem), Sahitya mattu Abhiruchi (Criticism) and Paschyatya Sahitya Vimarshe (Criticism) are major contributions to the Kannada Literature.
Dr. D. R. Nagaraj was an Indian cultural critic, political commentator and an expert on medieval and modern Kannada poetry and Dalit movement who wrote in Kannada and English languages. He won Sahitya Akademi Award for his work Sahitya Kathana. He started out as a Marxist critic but renounced the Marxist framework that he had used in the book Amruta mattu Garuda as too reductionist and became a much more eclectic and complex thinker. He is among the few Indian thinkers to shed new light on Dalit and Bahujan politics. He regarded the Gandhi-Ambedkar debate on the issue of caste system and untouchability as the most important contemporary debate whose outcome would determine the fate of India in the 21st century.
Kusuma Satyanarayana is an Indian scholar, editor and anti-caste activist. He is a Professor in the Department of Cultural Studies, English and Foreign Languages University (EFL-U), Hyderabad, and concentrates in the burgeoning field of Dalit studies.
Siddalingaiah, was an Indian poet, playwright, and Dalit activist, writing in the Kannada language. He is credited with starting the Dalit-Bandaya movement in Kannada and with starting the genre of Dalit writing. He is one of the founders of the Dalita Sangharsh Samiti along with B. Krishnappa.
Prof. Basappa Krishnappa (1938–1997) was one of the pioneers of the Dalit literary movement in Kannada and the founder president of Dalit Sangarsha Samiti, later it is named as the radical Dalit advocacy group. He taught at the Sir M. Vishweshwariah College in Bhadravathi for thirty years before retiring as principal. He is acknowledged as an important literary critic in Kannada.
H. Govindaiah is a prominent Dalit poet writing in Kannada. He was associated with Dalit Sangharsha Samiti (DSS) and was the publisher of Panchama, a fortnightly magazine of DSS for ten years until 1985. He has worked as a lecturer at Mysore University and the Karnataka Open University and was Deputy Registrar of the latter for two years.
Dr. T. Jayalakshmi, known by her pen name as Dr. Jayalakshmi Seethapura, is one of the eminent folklorists of modern India who writes in Kannada language. She is a retired Folklore professor of Mysore University. Jayalakshmi has performed hundreds of state and national level cultural competitions as judge. Her books on folklore have well received by the readers of Karnataka.
Mudnakudu Chinnaswamy is an Indian Kannada language poet, hailing from Mudnakudu village in Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka, India. He received Kendra Sahitya Academy award in 2022, for his work "Bahutvada Bhaaratha mattu Bouddha Thaatvikate".
Dr Lankappa Hanumanthaiah is an Indian Dalit poet, Indian politician, of Indian National Congress and a Member of the upper house of the Indian Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, from the state of Karnataka.
Chidananda Parasappa Siddhashrama, known as CPS or Prof. Siddhashrama, is an Indian academic, writer, critic, and poet who is known for his works in Kannada. He is a retired professor of Mysore University where he served as the acting Vice Chancellor. In 2020, for his contributions to the field of literature, Siddhashrama has been awarded the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award by Government of Karnataka.
Chikkanayakanahalli Puttegowda Krishnakumar, commonly known as C. P. Krishnakumar or CPK, is an Indian academic, writer, poet, folklorist, critic and translator in Kannada. CPK has published more than 100 literary works in different genres including poetry, criticism, translation. He was the president at the 78th Kannada Sahitya Sammelana held in Gangavati in 2011.
B.S Sannaiah was an Indian writer in Kannada language. He was born in Bhoganahalli, Piriyapatna talluk, Mysore, Karnataka. He worked as a Editor, Textual critic and a follower and protector of ancient Archaic works & manuscripts. He had undertaken study and research in various manuscript works in Kannada & jain literature and made some of the major contributions in the field.
