Madhurantakam Rajaram (October 5, 1930 - April 1, 1999) is considered one of the foremost of modern Telugu short story writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

s. He is the winner of Sahitya Akademi Award

Sahitya Akademi Award

Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the following twenty-four major Indian languagesAssamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,...

 of 1993 and Katha prize for short stories for the years 1991 and 1993.

Early Life and Literary Career

Rajaram was born in Damalcheruvu

Damalcheruvu

Damalcheruvu is a small town in Chittoor district of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The mangoes grown here are exported all over India and to some other parts of the world....

 village of Chittoor district

Chittoor district

Chittoor District , also known as Chittur, is a district of India's Andhra Pradesh state. The district headquarters is Chittoor City. The district has a population of 4,170,468 according to 2011 census of India. Chittoor district is famous for the Tirupati, Kanipakam and Sri Kalahasti temples...

 of Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...

 state. Rajaram worked as Telugu teacher at Zilla parishath high school of Damalcheruvu

Damalcheruvu

Damalcheruvu is a small town in Chittoor district of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The mangoes grown here are exported all over India and to some other parts of the world....

 and wrote stories to prominent Telugu dailies. In the span of over five decades he wrote many short stories depicting the lives of middle class or lower middle class people in Rayalaseema

Rayalaseema

Rayalaseema is a geographic region in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. It includes the districts of Anantapur, Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool. These Telugu speaking districts were part of Madras Presidency until 1953 when Telugu speaking districts of Madras presidency were carved out to form...

region of Andhra Pradesh. His collection of short stories include Madhurantakam Rajaram kathalu, Halikulu Kushalama etc. and he has also tested other genre of writing such as plays. In its citation, Sahitya Akademi said that "Madhurantakam Rajaram Kathalu is recognized as a masterpiece of Indian short fiction in Telugu for its faithful delineation of the outer and inner life of the rustic folk, its proper employment of dialect, its total comprehension of social and existential reality and its directness and force of narration."

Madhurantakam Rajaram's sons Madhurantakam Narendra and Madhurantakam Mahendra are also accomplished story writes, some times they are collectively referred as Madhurantakam Trio.

Honours

• 1968 Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Academy Award for Short stories
• Tanjore Tamil University Award for Translations
• 1990 Kondepudi Srinivasa Rao Sahiti Satkaram by Arasam Guntur
• 1991 Gopichand Sahiti satkaram (Hyderabad)
• 1993 Sahitya Academy Award for Short stories
• 1994 Honorary Doctorate by Sri Krishnadevaraya University
• 1996 Prathibaamoorthi Puraskaaram by Appa Josyula-Vishnu Bhotla Foundation (USA)

Literary Works

• Varshinchina Megham
• Praanadaata
• Taanu Veliginchina Deepaalu
• Punarnavam
• Kalyanakinkini
• Kammatemmera
• Vakragathulu - Ithara Kathalu
• Vagapetiki
• Vinodapradarsanam
• Revati Prapancham
• Madhurantakam Rajaram kathalu - 4 Volumes (Won Sahitya Academy Award)

As Editor

• Tholinaati Telugu Kathalu
• Oka Dasaabdi Telugu Kathalu
• Telugu Kathakulu - Kathana Reethulu