Vihang A. Naik

Vihang A. Naik or Vihang Ashokbhai Naik (2 September 1969) is a modern bilingual poet from Gujarat, India. He has authored many collections of poetry in English and Gujarati, besides translating poems from Gujarati into English. He died in the year 2021.

Biography Vihang A. Naik was born on September 2, 1969 at Surat, in Gujarat into a Gujarati family in Surat. His father was Sri Ashok bhai Naik and his mother, Smt. Jyothshana Jadeja. Sri Alkesh was his brother's name. From Surat, he moved to Baroda, Ahmedabad and other cities out of Gujarat. He did his matriculation from a local school in Vadodara, obtained a bachelor's degree in arts (English Literature and Philosophy) and master's degree (English Literature and Indian Literature in English Translation) from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. He taught English in various colleges of North Gujarat. He retired in 2019.

Naik has translated his own Gujarati Poetry "Jeevangeet" into English. His poetry is included in various anthologies, literary journals and magazines such as Anthology of Contemporary Indian Poetry, The Dance of the Peacock, The Indian P.E.N.,The Journal of Poetry Society (India),The Journal of Literature and Aesthetics, Indian Literature, The Brown Critique, Poetry Chain, Kavya Bharati, The Journal of Indian Writing In English, Coldnoon: Travel Poetics, Muse India etc.

Awards Vihang Naik has won several awards for his poetry including Michael Madhusudan Dutt Prize, 1998, Beverely Hills Book Award 2016, Book Excellence Award 2017 and Konark Literary Fest Award 2019.

In 2016 his poetry collection City Times and Other Poems entered Limca Book of Records for the poem "Self Portrait" which was composed of only five blank pages.