Babu Suthar

Babu Suthar (Gujarati: બાબુ સુથાર) is a Gujarati Lecturer in South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, currently the only full-time instructor in this language in North America at the university level.

As a linguist, he is primarily interested in South Asian Linguistics and Typological Linguistics and has completed doctoral work on Agreement in Gujarati at the MS University of Baroda, under Dr. Bharati Modi. He had stint as journalist with the Gujarati newspaper Sandesh prior to taking up full-time academic pursuits.

He has written on linguistic philosophy as well as on literary theories in Gujarati, including a recently published co-authored piece on Gujarati language in Indo-Aryan Languages (RoutledgeCurzon, 2003). With his roots in Panchamahals district of Gujarat he has done several studies on the post-modern nuances of Gujarati idiom at his home territory.

He has also prepared extensive language materials: three textbooks, one learner's dictionary as well as several other materials for teaching Gujarati, including Gujarati thematic vocabulary, pedagogic grammar and Parts of Speech. Suthar is also an accomplished creative writer, and has published four experimental novels called Kachando ane Darpan, Srmad Kagadapacchisi, Vakyakatha and Valgad, and the fifth, Nidraviyoga, is in press.

He has a published poem collection Gurujaapa, while a second Sapphera is in press. His short stories Dhuliyo and Lulo have been translated in English. He has also written a long fairy tale for children, Ek hato chokaro, commissioned by the Ministry of Culture in India.