Recipient of several State awards, Vishnu Waman Shirwadkar ‘Kusumagraj’ also won National awards including the 1974 Sahitya Akademi Award in Marathi for Natsamrat, Padma Bhushan in the year 1991 and the Dnyanpith Award in 1988. Kusumagraj was also the chairperson of the World Marathi Conference in 1989. The original name of Mr. V.V. Shirwadkar was Gajanan Ranganath Shirwadkar. Once he was adopted, his name was changed to Vishnu Waman Shirwadkar. His articles and poems were published in “Balbodhmewa” magazine which was edited by the renowned poet of Maharashtra D.N. Tilak in the year 1929.
Popularly known by his pen name, Kusumagraj, Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar was an eminent Marathi poet, novelist, playwright, short story writer who had a five-decade long career beginning from the pre-independence era. During his career span, he wrote 16 volumes of poems, three novels, eight volumes of short stories, seven volumes of essays, 18 plays and six one-act plays. Some of his popular works include Vishakha, which is a collection of lyrics that inspired a generation into the Indian freedom movement.
