India, April 9 -- In the leafy stillness of Raipur bubbled inside a pacing life, resides Vinod Kumar Shukl, one of Indian literature's most enigmatic masters. The 88-year-old 2023 Jnanpith laureate continues to captivate readers with his rare blend of restraint and radical imagination. Known for his minimalist, surreal prose and simple poetry, Shukl doesn't just write about the ordinary-he dignifies it.

His writings strip the ordinary of its anonymity.

In a conversation with Hindustan Times, Shukla revisited his poetic beginnings in Rajnandgaon, reflected on the subtle politics of language, and explored the quiet rebellion that literature can stage in a fractured world.

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