Vinod Joshi

Early life

Vinod Joshi was born on 13 August 1955 in Bhoringda, a village of Amreli district, Gujarat. His father Hargovinddas Joshi was a Sanskrit scholar and served as a Panchayat Mantri in rural Saurashtra. Vinod Joshi is influenced by the folkloric Gujarati language inherited from his mother, Lilavati Joshi. His family is a native of Botad. He completed his preschool education from Mohanlal Motichand Balmandir, Gadhada. He completed his primary education from the Government School of Turkha, a village of Botad district, from 1960 to 1966. He took his secondary school education from N.T.M Government High School, Surendranagar (1967 to 1968); Sarvoday Vidyalaya, Lathidad (1969) and Government High School, Botad (1970). He completed his Bachelor of Arts in Gujarati literature from Kavishri Botadkar Arts and Commerce College, Botad in 1975. He completed his Master of Arts from Gujarati Anusnatak Kendra of Saurashtra University, Bhavnagar (1976) and Gujarati Bhasha Sahitya Bhavan of Saurashtra University (1977). He earned Ph.D. in 1980 from Gujarati Bhasha Sahitya Bhavan, Saurashtra University for his research thesis Radio Nataknu Kalaswaroop Ane Gujaratima Teno Vikas (Form Of Radio Drama and Its Development in Gujarati Language) under the guidance of Ishwarlal R. Dave.

He married Vimal Joshi and they have a son, Aditya.

Career

Vinod Joshi started his career as a Professor of Gujarati literature in 1977 at H.L. Patel Arts and Commerce College, Bhayavadar, a town near Upleta. From 1978 to 1987, he served as a professor at Kapadia Mahila Arts College, Bhavnagar . Since 1988, he is working as a Professor and Head of the Gujarati Department at Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhaji Bhavnagar University. He has also served as a Dean of the faculty of arts and as a Vice-Chancellor of the same university. He is former convener (2008 to 2012) of Gujarati language at Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi.

Vinod Joshi started writing poetry during his school days. In Standard 11, he explored the Sanskrit metres and ventured into the metrical form. It was in 1973, when his poem was published for the first time in Kumar, a Gujarati periodical. Subsequently, his poems are published in other Gujarati periodicals like Kavilok, Kavita, Shabdasrishti, Parab, Navneet Samarpan and Buddhiprakaash, Etad.

Works

He has imbued refreshing rural life images, mainly through portrayal of feminine sentiments in Gujarati literature.

Poetry

Parantu, his first anthology of poems, was published in 1984 by Kavilok Trust, followed by Shikhandi (1985). Shikhandi, a long narrative poem is composed in Sanskrit prosody. Shikhandi dealt with the psyche of Shikhandi and Bhishma, characters from Mahabharata. Tundil-tundika (1987) a long narrative poem of Vinod Joshi, is a reinterpretation of medieval form padyavaarta of Gujarati in a modern style. Zalar Vage Zoothadi (1991) is his most loved and sought after collection of poems. His selected poems have been compiled as Kunchi Aapo, Baaijee! by Manilal H. Patel, a well known Gujarati author. Vinod Joshi is critically acclaimed in Gujarati literature for the elegant female sensibility in the sounds, rhymes and rhythms of his songs. In the poems of Vinod Joshi, one can perceive intense femininity, solitude, social status and indefinable individuality through images of everyday reality and objects.

Criticism

Compilation

Fiction

Recognition

Vinod Joshi has been awarded Kavishwar Dalpatram Award in 2013 and Sahitya Gaurav Puraskar by Gujarat Sahitya Akadamy in 2015. His book on criticism, Nivesh, was awarded by Ramanlal Joshi Prize (1994) instituted by Gujarati Sahitya Parishad. He is recipient of the first Girnaar Sahitya Shiromani Puraskaar (2012) awarded by Doordarshan, Ahmedabad, He is also a recipient of Umashankar Joshi Award (1986), Jayant Pathak Poetry Award (1984), Critics Award (1986), Zaverchand Meghani Award (2011), Rashtriya Kalakendra Appreciation Award (2014), Kala Ratna Award by Gujarat Kala Pratishthan (2016).