Raghunath Murmu was an Indian Santali writer and educator. He developed the Ol Chiki script for Santali language. Until the nineteenth century, Santali people had no written language and knowledge was transmitted orally from one generation to other. Later European researchers and Christian missionaries started to use Bengali, Odia, and Roman scripts to document the Santali language. However, Santalis did not have their own script. His development of the Ol Chiki script enriched the cultural identity of the Santali society. He wrote many songs, plays and school text books in the Ol Chiki script.
Sitakant Mahapatra is an Indian poet and literary critic in Odia as well as English. He served in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) from 1961 until he retired in 1995, and has held ex officio posts such as the Chairman of National Book Trust, New Delhi since then.
Vannadasan, aka Kalyanji is a Tamil writer from India. He was born as Siva Kalyana Sundaram in Tirunelveli in 1946, where he currently resides.. He is a son of Thi. Ka. Sivasankaran, a renowned Tamil writer. He writes short stories and non fiction articles under the pseudonym of Vannadhasan and poems under Kalyanji. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award for Tamil in 2016 for his short story collection Oru Siru Isai. He is also a recipient of Vishnupuram Literary Award, which he also won in 2016.
He is a retired bank employee.
Chandranath Mishra Amar was a Maithili writer and poet. He was the recipient of the Sahitya Akademi award for his 1982 work Maithili Patrakaritak Itahas. He also won the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Fellowship for the year 2010.
Jitendra Narayan Dash, who writes under the pseudonym of Dash Benhur is a Sahitya Akademi award winner writer from Odisha. He was born in Khandapada in Nayagarh district, Odisha. He retired as the Principal of Samanta Chandra Sekhara College, Puri. He is a founder member of Aama Odisha.
Bijay Mishra was a dramatist, lyricist and screenwriter from India. He was also a mainstream script writer in Odia Cinema & TV Industry. He was a recipient of the State Sahitya Academy Award, Konark Samman (1994) as well as the Kendra Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and the Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award.
Em and the Big Hoom is a 2012 English-language novel written by Jerry Pinto. The book won The Hindu Literary Prize, the Crossword Book Award, the Sahitya Akademi Award, and the Windham–Campbell Literature Prize.
Fagun is a monthly newspaper published on paper in the Santali language in the Ol Chiki script in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. It is the only newspaper in India that is published in Santali, and has readership across the country. The newspaper was founded in April 2008 by Mangat Murmu. and is edited by Malati Murmu, who received the Telegraph Legend Award in 2016. Fagun started with a circulation of 500 copies, and as of 2018 has a circulation of 5000. Copies cost 5 rupees each.
Arjun Charan Hembram is an Indian writer of Santali language and banker from Odisha. He won Sahitya Akademi Award in 2012.
Kali Charan Hembram is an Indian writer of Santali language and civil servant from Odisha. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award for Santali in 2019.
Damayanti Beshra is a Santali author and Adivasi researcher. She is known for literature of Santali language. In 2020, she was honoured by Padma Shri for her remarkable contribution to Santhali literature.
Joba Murmu is an Indian writer and litterateur who is known for her works in Santali literature. She received the Sahitya Akademi's Children's Literature Award on November 14, 2017 due to her language contribution to Santali literature.
Kherwal Soren or Kalipada Soren is a Santhali playwright, author and editor.
Gangadhar Hansda is a Santali author known for writing fiction.
Santali literature refers to the literary works written in the Santali language, primarily spoken by the Santal people of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is written in the indigenous script called Ol Chiki script. Santali literature is composed in two broad styles- ᱠᱟᱹᱛᱷᱱᱤ (Kạthni-prose), ᱜᱟᱹᱛᱷᱤᱱᱤ (Gạthni-poetry).In terms of historical development, it is broadly classified into two prominent forms (genres) based on historical passes. They are:
