1. Nirmal Verma was a Hindi writer, novelist, activist and translator.
12 Facts About Nirmal Verma
1. 2.
Nirmal Verma is credited as being one of the pioneers of the Nai Kahani literary movement of Hindi literature, wherein his first collection of stories, Parinde is considered its first signature.
3.
Nirmal Verma was born on 3 April 1929 in Shimla, where his father worked as an officer in the Civil and Services Department of the British Indian Government.
4.
Nirmal Verma was the seventh child among his eight siblings.
5.
Nirmal Verma is survived by his wife, Gagan Gill who is a writer.
6.
Nirmal Verma wrote his first story for a students' magazine in the early 1950s.
7.
Nirmal Verma completed Masters of Arts in History from St Stephen's College, Delhi University.
8.
Nirmal Verma stayed in Prague for 10 years, where he was invited by Oriental Institute to initiate a program of translation of modern Czech writers like Karel Capek, Milan Kundera or Bohumil Hrabal to Hindi; he learnt Czech language, and translated nine world classics to Hindi, before returning home in 1968, as the result of Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.
9.
Nirmal Verma's subsequent writing reflected his concerted relooking of Indian traditions, which he found to be innately modern, compared with external modernity reflected in the western viewpoints and cultural milieu, which were being imposed on Indian ethos, all around, so much so that later his views were confused as pro-Hindutva as well.
10.
Nirmal Verma is best known for his short stories and his best known story, 'Parinde' is supposed to be the pioneer of the Nai Kahani Movement in Hindi literature.
11.
Nirmal Verma experimented vividly with theme as well as technique of the Hindi short story in the 60s and 70s.
12.
Nirmal Verma's books have been translated into several European languages such as English, Russian, German, Icelandic, Polish, Italian and French.