Rajendra Keshavlal Shah

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Rajendra Keshavlal SHAH (born: January 28, 1913, Kapadvanaj, Gujarat, India) is a lyrical poet who writes in Gujarati. He has authored more than 20 collections of poems and songs, mainly on the themes of the beauty of nature, and about the everyday lives of indigenous peoples and fisherfolk communities. In his poems using Sanskrit metrics, he has been greatly influenced by Rabindranath Tagore.

Among his various professions, Shah has also been a printer in Mumbai, where he launched the poetry magazine Kavilok. The press itself became an important Sunday meeting-place for Gujarati poets.

Apart from writing poetry, Shah has also translated into Gujarati Tagore's poetry collection Balaaka; Jayadeva's Gita Govinda; Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner; and Dante's The Divine Comedy.

Shah won the Jnanpith -- the Indian government's most prestigious literary prize -- for the year 2001. The judges noted, "his intensity of emotion and innovation in form and expression which set him apart as a poet of great significance. The mystical tone of his poetry stems from the tradition of great medieval masters like Kabir, Narsinh Mehta and literary giants like them".