Manohar Malgonkar

Manohar Malgonkar (1913-2010) was an eminent post-Independence writer whom R.K. Narayan once referred to as his ‘favourite Indian novelist in English'. Born near Belgaum, Malgonkar was the grandson of the prime minister of a former princely state of Dewas. He served in the army during World War II, was a big-game hunter, a farmer, a mine owner and an adventurer. Later, he started working as a journalist and thereafter took to book writing. His works are as diverse as his personal life and have a blend of history, romance and military life. Many of his works have been translated into several European languages. In an article published in The New York Times in 1965, he was hailed as ‘one of India's most exuberant storytellers'.