Ashok Vajpeyi
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Ashok Vajpeyi, a Hindi poet-critic, translator, editor and culture-activist, is a major cultural figure of India. With more than 13 books of poetry, 10 of criticism in Hindi and 4 books on art in English to his credit, he is widely recognised as an outstanding promoter of culture and an innovative institution-builder. Over the years he has worked tirelessly to enhance the mutual awareness and interaction
between Indian and foreign cultures. A frequent presence at some of the major conferences, seminars and poetry-festivals, he has raised his voice for the autonomy of literature and arts as against contemporary tyrannies of ideologies, markets and fundamentalism. As editor of many prestigious journals he has done much to promote critical awareness of contemporary and classical arts and young talent in poetry and criticism. As an organiser he has more than a thousand events to his credit relating to literature, music, dances, theatre, visual arts, folk and tribal arts, cinema etc. He has been awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Dayawati Kavi Shekhar Samman, Kabir Samman and awarded D.Lit. (honoriscausa) by the Central University of Hyderabad.
He has written two large books on the Paris-based Indian master Sayed Haider Raza one on 7 contemporary Indian abstract painters a book on Hindustani classical music. He set up the renowned multi-arts centre Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal; has been the first Vice-Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University (set up by Govt. of India). For more than a year he doubled up as the Director General of the National Museum, New Delhi, the Vice-Chairman National Museum of Man,
Bhopal. Until recently has been the Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi, Ministry of Culture, Govt of India, New Delhi. Ashok Vajpeyi had organized in 1989 a weeklong World Poetry Festival in Bharat Bhavan Bhopal in which 27 foreign poets and 6 Indian poets participated.
A prominent public intellectual of India, he has been a creative global-trotter and visited Europe many times to attend conferences, deliver lectures and give readings.
Has been a writer in-residence at Jamia Millia Islamia University and a fellow of K K Birla Foundation. He lives in Delhi after retiring from civil service. He has been decorated by the President of Republic of Poland by the outstanding national award ‘The Officer’s Cross of Merit of the Republic of Poland’ and the French Govt. by the award of ‘Officier De L’Ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres’. Presently Executive Trustee, The Raza Foundation, New Delhi.
