Vinod Kumar Shukla is an acclaimed Hindi poet, and novelist, who has won both the Jnanpith and Sahitya Akademi awards, India’s highest literary honours. He has also been conferred with the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature and is the recipient of this year’s Godrej Literature Live! The Mumbai Litfest’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Shukla is renowned in Hindi literature for his distinctive linguistic style and emotional depth. His writing, often described as magical realism has influenced both Indian and global literature. By combining folk traditions with the existential complexities of modern life, he devised a new storytelling framework. He has also written stories and poems for children.