Katyayani Vidmahe

Ketavarapu Katyayani (born 1955), best known by her pen name Katyayani Vidmahe, is an Indian writer and academic. Her work focuses on Telugu literature, particularly feminist and Marxist writing.

Early life and academic career The writer was born Ketavarapu Katyayani in 1955 in , a village in the Addanki area of India's Andhra Pradesh state. Her mother was Indira Devi and her father was Ramakoti Sastry, a professor and literary critic.

She pursued studies in Warangal and Hyderabad, graduating with a master's degree in Telugu from Kakatiya University in Warangal in 1977, and earning a gold medal for her work. She retired from the university in the 2010s.

Writing and activism As of 2013, she had written 275 research papers on Telugu literature, as well as 28 books, under her pen name Katyayani Vidmahe. She had also edited an additional 25 books. She founded the Society for Women's Studies and Development and Prajasvamya Rachayatala Vedika, a writers association for women. However, in 2015 she returned the award alongside several fellow winners in protest of "the growing intolerance in the country," particularly the assassination of the Kannada scholar M. M. Kalburgi and the 2015 Dadri lynching.