Keki N. Daruwalla (24 January 1937 – 26 September 2024)

We mourn the death of the acclaimed author, Keki N. Daruwalla, who passed away on 26 September at the age of 87. His debut poetry collection Under Orion was published by Writers Workshop in 1970, followed by Apparition in April in 1971, which brought him the Uttar Pradesh State Award in 1972. He went on to write many other books of poetry, short stories, novels and nonfiction prose.

Daruwalla received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1984 for The Keeper of the Dead (1982).  He returned this award in 2015 in protest after the death of writer M M Kalburgi, stating: “…In recent months it (the Akademi) has not stood up as boldly as it should for values that any literature stands for, namely freedom of expression against threat, upholding the rights of the marginalised, speaking up against superstitions and intolerance of any kind. The Akademi has also not distinguished itself in standing by authors who are under political duress. Nor has the Akademi, under your dispensation, spoken out against organisations/ideological collectives that have used physical violence of the worst sort against authors.”

In his stellar literary career, Daruwalla also won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize for Asia in 1987, and the Padma Shri. He had a distinguished career as an IPS officer, rising through the ranks to become special assistant on international affairs to Prime Minister Charan Singh in 1979. He went on to join the Research and Analysis Wing, from where he retired as chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee in 1995.

We are saddened by the demise of this great man who had, to quote Nissim Ezekiel, “the energy of a lion”. Keki contacted Writers Workshop whenever he came to Kolkata, asked about our books and maintained regular correspondence, his last exchange with us in 2021 an email reassurance that he had recuperated from Covid-19.