Hemant Divate is an internationally renowned Marathi poet, literary editor, publisher and translator. His two poetry collections in Marathi, Chautishi-paryantchya Kavita and Thambtach Yet Nahi are indeed path-breaking. His poems have been translated into English, Spanish, Italian, Irish, French, German, Urdu, Gujarati, Bengali, Hindi, Odia, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
His most recent book in Marathi, published by Poetrywala, is Ya Roommadhye Aale Ki Life Suru Hote. The translation of this book was recently published as Struggles with Imagined Gods. Hemant’s second book in English translation, A Depressingly Monotonous Landscape, made waves in India and internationally for its unique style of writing. The renowned poet and translator Dilip Chitre translated his first collection, Chautishi-paryantchya Kavita, into English as Virus Alert. This, in turn, has been translated in Spanish as Alarma de Virus and in Irish as Foláireamh Víris.
Hemant’s publishing house, Paperwall Media & Publishing Pvt Ltd, has published more than 50 collections of poetry of extraordinary quality in Marathi and English. He is the founder and editor of the highly respected Marathi little magazine Abhidha (later, Abhidhanantar), which saw uninterrupted publication for nearly 15 years. Abhidhanantar has been credited for providing an invaluable platform for new poets and for enriching the post-nineties Marathi literary scene with amazing fresh talent and great poetry.
Hemant Divate has presented his poems in many important poetry festivals in India as well as in Europe and Latin America. He has won several prestigious awards, including the Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad Award (Kolkata, India) the Maharashtra Foundation Award (USA) and Aksharrang Lokmat Award. Hemant works and lives in Mumbai.