Anand Balwant Patil (born 1945) is a Marathi and English creative writer, postcolonial, comparatist, culturalist translator –scholar from Maharashtra –Goa, India. Starting with his debut rural novellas and research on the ‘Western Influences on Marathi Drama 1818-1947’ Patil set new trends in rural fiction. His Icchamarn is the compendious epic novel on a village. It is regarded as a masterpiece of gramin (rural) fiction. He is the recipient of four Government of Maharashtra Awards for extraordinary literary works and also other thirteen literary awards. He is the founder of "Aranyanand Shikshan", "Sahitya va Sanskriti Pratisthan" and "Anand Granthsagar Prkashan".
Education.
Patil was born on 3 July 1945 in a remote village in the range of Sahyadri Mountain in Maharashtra. He joined the ‘Earn and Learn’ scheme of Karmveer Bhaurao Patil and received Merit scholarship for M.A. in Entire English from shivaji university Kolhapur, Maharashtra. The UGC Teachership and British council visitorship enabled him to submit the meritorious Ph.D. dissertation which was published both in English and Marathi.
Career.
Dr. Patil has contributed immensely in field of education and literature. His contributions are shortly elaborated here.
Teaching.
Patil taught English language and Literature in various colleges of Rayat Shikshan Sanstha for 24 years and later comparative Literature and creative writing in Department of English, Goa University and school of Languages and Literature in Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded. After retirement he was the visiting Professor of Delhi University, Patan and Nagpur University.
Literary career.
Patil’s first short story ‘Khep' published in the most prestigious periodical ‘Satyakatha’(1971) and novella Kagud in 'Mouji' (1984) earned him the nickname ‘Kagudwala’ Patil given by stalwart fictionist Shankar Patil. Anand Patil become a name to be conjured with in rural fiction. His autobiographical element and mastery of rural language was so powerful that he was described as a rising sun of Marathi rural writing.
Once after he joined the Goa University as a Reader in English he has reached to the new heights. He reached where Maharashtrian writers have reached seldom including publishing articles in Ariel, comparative and culture studies, Oxford and Cambridge Companions in the Western countries. Patil ventured where no Marathi Marathi writer had ever trod . He was turned down by those so called scholars who had never published a single book in Maharashtra. This cultural tuen made him the leading comparatist and culturalist in India who went abroad for seven times on the academic tours. His book on 'Comparative Literature :Theory and practice' translated in to Hindi is a text book all over India.
Whatever genre he tried he made his work. For example, his ‘Patalachi Londanvari’ translated in to Kannada and Hindi is considered the first true travel writing of the marginal Indian, and ‘In search of my Kolhapur’ the first travel of a District, ‘Granthani Rachlela Mahapurush’ a first literary biography and so on. As a creative writer he is Ngugi wa Thiong'o of Marathi and as a culturalist –comparatist he is Raymond Williams of India.