Speaker
Dr. Varsha Das
Former Director, National Gandhi Museum, New Delhi
Dr. Varsha Das, born in Mumbai in November 1942, holds an M.A. in Sanskrit and Hindi from Bombay University and a Doctorate in Education from Osmania University, Hyderabad, on the potential of traditional performing arts for inculcating scientific temper. She has more than a hundred publications to her credit, spanning original work, translation, and adaptation across fiction, non-fiction, poetry, radio plays, and children's books. She writes in Gujarati, Hindi, and English, and translates from Bangla, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi, and Odia.
Her recent publications include Odia Sahitya-Darshan, a collection of Odia literature translated into Gujarati (Goorjar Granthratna Karyalay); a three-volume collection of her Hindi radio plays (Rajkamal Prakashan); Looking for Gandhi in Our Times, a compilation of her lectures on Gandhi (Publications Division, Ministry of I&B); Adhunik Gujarati Kavitaen, Gujarati poems translated into Hindi (Sahitya Akademi); and Kavita Kavita Kavita, a collection of her own poems in Gujarati, Hindi, and English (Navajivan Prakashan Mandir). She has written on the visual arts for the past sixty years.
She has received numerous awards, the first at the age of eighteen from the Government of Gujarat for her children's book Jagatnaan Paatanagaro. Others include recognition from the Sahitya Akademi and the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad for her translation of Odia poems into Gujarati, the National Women Excellence Award from the Women International Network, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Delhi Gujarati Samaj, and a salutation from Legends of India for promoting Indian art forms. For her contribution to humanistic education and peace, she was awarded an honorary professorship by Soka University, Tokyo.
She worked with the National Book Trust of India for three decades in various capacities, including as Acting Director, and is a former Director of the National Gandhi Museum, New Delhi. She has been an active member of Bharat Soka Gakkai for more than 45 years, and is a life member and trustee of several educational and literary organisations.