Dr. Papineni Sivasankar, a doyen of Modern Literature in Telugu, recipient of Sahitya Akademi Award, 2016 is an Indian poet, short story writer, and critic. He has published 52 books including five poetry collections, three short story collections, five essay collections and 39 anthologies. His poetry collections and short story collections were translated into other languages such as English, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam. His notable works are Rajani Gandha, Matti GundeSahityam-Moulika Bhavanalu and Talli! Ninnu Dalanchi.
Early life and career
Born on Vijaya Dipavali 1953 in the village Nekkallu, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, India. His father Venkata Krishnarao was a former and mother Santamma was a housewife. Sivasankar completed his schooling at K.V.R.Z.P.H.School, Tulluru. He did his B.A. at JKC College, Guntur and stood first in Andhra University with Prabhala Sundararamayya Pantulu Gold Medal in 1974. He received his Master of Arts degree in 1976 at Andhra University, Nallapadu branch again with Telikicherla Venkataratnam Gold Medal. His Ph.D. thesis Sahityam - Konni Moulika Bhavanalu won Tumati Donappa Gold Medal as the best thesis from Acharya Nagarjuna University in 1989. He married Gruha Lakshmi in 1977 and with her had two daughters, Srujana and Spandana. And he joined B.S.S.B. College, Tadikonda as Telugu Lecturer in 1977 and retired as principal of that college in 2010.
Literary works
Starting with Stabdhata-Chalanam in 1984 Sivasankar published five poetry collections in which the award-winning Rajani Gandha is significant. Dr. Papineni's greatness as a poet lies in his vibrant expression, fertile imagination, grandeur of thought and finest human sensibility. His first poem in free verse Cheekati nundi Vekuvaku was published in Dipavali Special issue of Andhra Jyothi in 1980. And his first short story Kalupu Mokka was published in Prajatantra weekly, in April 1977. Mattigunde was acclaimed as one of the 100 best short stories of 20th century. And Samudram is a unique narrative experiment in second person about the loss of succession to human intellect. Dr. Papineni published three short story collections. His short stories reflect the struggles of farmers, the impact of globalisation on villages in general, and the unrest and distress of human beings in particular. He brought out five books of criticism to his credit including Sahityam-Moulika Bhavanalu. As a critic, Sivasankar evaluated the merits of the classical poetry in Telugu. And with his insights in sociological theories he evolved many a concept like Avicchinnata, Nisargata, Parayitanam to analyze modern Telugu literature. In his exhaustive interview with Dr. C. Mrunalini Sivasankar revealed his exploration in Telugu literature and social culture as well.
Anthologies
Sivasankar co-edited 'Katha Sahiti' annual anthologies of the best short stories in Telugu since 1990. He also edited the annual anthologies of Telugu poetry from 2004 to 2014. Under his editorship many anthologies including Kavita! O Kavita!!, Vismruta Katha, Raitu Kavita, and Telugu Talli and Geya Kavitha have been published.
Awards and Honors
The Sahitya Akademi Award, 2016 for his poetry collection Rajani Gandha
