Govind Mishra

Who is Govind Mishra?

Govind Mishra is an award winning Indian novelist writing in India who has to his credit more than 53 books and has been awarded the most prestigious Hindi awards namely Vyas Samman and Sahitya Akademi Award.

He was born on 1 August 1939 in Atarra, Banda, United Provines. His parents were primary school teachers. His early education was completed in Banda and he post-graduated in English Literature from Allahabad University which in those days was known to be the “Oxford of the East”. He taught for two years, graduate classes and in 1961 joined the Indian Revenue Service from which he retired in 1997 as Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes. He started writing at the age of 14 but regular writing commenced in 1965. Of his 53 books, 11 are novels, more than 10 are collection of stories, 5 are books on travels and the remaining are on miscellaneous subjects including stories for children, poems and literary ess

More than 150 PhDs have been completed on his works and one DLit has also been awarded to a lady professor. His writings have a wide range – from villages to towns, metros of India to even foreign countries. The writings bear both romantic and realistic touch which Govind Mishra attributes to his upbringing which was in rustic villages and towns where he also experienced the delicacies of love. The characters figuring in his works would number more than 2000. His critics opine that Govind Mishra has never repeated himself in novels and has taken up a new subject and new context every time. For example “Phool Imartein aur Bandar” is a novel on bureaucracy, “Lal Peeli Zameen” on violence in villages and small towns, “Tumhari Roshni Mein” is on love, “Dheer Sameere” is on Indian religious context of Mathura and Vrindavan, “Paanch Angano wala Ghar” is about the joint family system of Indian society.