Introduction

For me, writing was never a subject of self-pleasure or self-satisfaction, nor something to do with fascination for words; my works are meant to convey to my readers the message that they should never feel lonely or helpless. - Chitra Mudgal

Chitra ji was born in Egmore, Chennai on the 10th of December 1943. Educated in Mumbai, she completed her M.A. in Hindi Literature from the S.N.D.T. University by Correspondence. 

She is one of the leading literary figures of modern Hindi literature. Her thematic variations and the use of colloquial language has been her mark of success.

Since her youth, she has lived and worked among the weaker sections of the society of all caste and creed. 

Her short stories are a window into the lives of the people living at the margins of the society. They deal with woman's search for her self identity, the plight and despair of the middle class and questions our hostility and indifference towards the struggles of the social outcasts.

Her novel ‘Avaan’, portraying the lives and times of the Trade Union Movement during the time of Datta Samant has been acknowledged by critics as a masterpiece of literary work and stands as a classic novel in Hindi Literature. 

Her novel Post Box No. 203 Naalasopara is a heart wrenching tale of a transgender boy, Vinod. A tale that gazes into the darkness of our hearts; a physical and social space of harrowing and horrendous suffering. A source of untold agonies and atrocities.

She is the first Indian woman to receive the coveted Vyas Samman for her novel Avaan.

In 2019 she was awarded India's highest literary award, the Sahitya Akademi, for her novel Post Box No. 203 Naalasopara.