Ravindra Kelekar was a noted Indian author who wrote primarily in the Konkani language, though he also wrote in Marathi and Hindi. A Gandhian activist, freedom fighter and a pioneer in the modern Konkani movement, he was a well known Konkani scholar, linguist, and creative thinker. Kelekar was a participant in the Indian freedom movement, Goa's liberation movement, and later the campaign against the merger of the newly formed Goa with Maharashtra. He played a key role in the founding of the Konkani Bhasha Mandal, which lead the literary campaign for the recognition of Konkani as a full-fledged language, and its reinstatement as the state language of Goa. He authored nearly 100 books in the Konkani language, including Amchi Bhas Konkaneech, Shalent Konkani Kityak, Bahu-bhashik Bharatant Bhashenche Samajshastra and Himalayant, and also edited Jaag magazine for more than two decades.
Vincent John Peter Saldanha was an Indian Konkani language littérateur, dramatist, novelist, short-story writer and poet. He made significant contributions to Konkani literature as a poet, dramatist, novelist, and a litterateur.
Uday Laxmikant Bhembre is an Indian lawyer, Konkani writer and former member of the Goa, Daman and Diu Legislative Assembly. He is noted for his role as the editor of the Konkani daily, Sunaparant, and as a Konkani language activist. Bhembre is also widely known as the lyricist of the famed Goan Konkani language song Channeache Rati.
Nilmani Phookan was an Indian poet in the Assamese language and an academic. His work, replete with symbolism, is inspired by French symbolism and is representative of the genre in Assamese poetry. His notable works include Surya Henu Nami Ahe Ei Nodiyedi, Gulapi Jamur Lagna, and Kobita.
John Baptist Moraes was a Konkani poet and writer. He was based in Bombay (Mumbai), which he migrated to in 1951 and wrote in Konkani in the Kannada script. He was also the founder and co-editor of the Konkani Daiz monthly, he was on the editorial board of the Poinnari weekly, and in 2002 was appointed member of the General Council of the Sahitya Akademi, India's academy of letters.
Konkani in the Roman script, commonly known as Roman Konkani or Romi Konknni refers to the writing of the Konkani language in the Roman script. While Konkani is written in five different scripts altogether, Roman Konkani is widely used. Roman Konkani is known to be the oldest preserved and protected literary tradition beginning from the 16th century AD.
Manohar Rai Sardesai was an Indian Konkani poet, writer and French translator. He received his Doctorat ès lettres françaises for his thesis "L'image de l'Inde en France" from the University of Sorbonne. He has been credited for an upsurge of modern Konkani poetry. Sardesai died in 2006.
Pundalik Narayan Naik is an Indian Konkani poet, short-story writer, novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He has 40 books and two films to his credit.
The Dalgado Konknni Akademi is an organisation located in Panjim, Goa that works for the development and promotion of Konkani in the Roman script.
Raghuveer Chaudhari is a novelist, poet and critic from Gujarat, India. He has also worked as a columnist for numerous newspapers, such as Sandesh, Janmabhumi, Nirikshaka and Divya Bhaskar. He was a teacher at the Gujarat University until his retirement in 1998. His most significant contributions have been in Gujarati language but he has also written Hindi articles. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1977, for his novel trilogy Uparvas. He received Jnanpith Award, considered to be India's highest literary award, in 2015. In 2019, he was awarded a D.Lit. by Gujarat University.
Konkani literature is literature in the Konkani language, mostly produced in three scripts: Roman, Devanagari and Kannada. Konkani literature is eligible for the Sahitya Akademi Award.
Jayanti Naik is an Indian Konkani writer, folklore researcher, short story writer, dramatist, children's writer, folklorist, and translator. She was the first person to earn a doctorate from the Goa University's Department of Konkani. She is also a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award. In her career of some three decades, she has produced on average, a book a year.
The Goa Arts and Literature Festival (GALF) is an annual literary festival which takes place in the Indian coastal state of Goa, each December. It was founded in 2010.
Mahabaleshwar Sail is an Indian author. He has been honoured with the Saraswati Samman, 2016 for his novel 'Hawthan' (हावटण).
Prashanti Talpankar is an Indian writer, translator, playwright, and actor. She is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize for her work in Konkani and is a cancer survivor.
Paresh Narendra Kamat is an Indian Konkani poet.
Tanaji Halarnkar was a Konkani scholar, columnist and former editor of the Konkani Encyclopedia. Halarnkar played a prominent role in the pro-Konkani language agitation in the Goa of the 1980s, and also in the wider movement for the promotion of the Konkani language in Goa and other parts of western coastal India. His other contributions include helping develop scientific and technical terminology for Konkani. He was involved with organising Konkani literary events, authored books, and did his Ph.D. on the gram panchayats of Goa.
John Claro Fernandes was an Indian writer, theatre director, playwright, and actor known for his work in tiatr productions. Throughout his extensive career, he has made crucial contributions to the development and advancement of Goan tiatr. His noted research on the history of tiatr led to the discovery that the inaugural tiatr production, titled Italian Bhurgo, took place on 17 April 1892, at the New Alfred Theatre in Bombay, presently occupied by the Police Commissioner headquarters.
Gurunath Shivaji Kelekar was an Indian freedom fighter and author from Goa. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award for his translation of Mahatma Gandhi's The Story of My Experiments with Truth in Konkani.
