New Delhi, Dec. 24 -- Renowned Hindi writer and Jnanpith Award laureate Vinod Kumar Shukla has passed away. Vinod Kumar Shukla (1 January 1937 - 23 December 2025) was an Indian Hindi writer renowned for a distinctive literary style that often bordered on magic realism. His major works include the novels Naukar ki Kameez and Deewar Mein Ek Khirkee Rehti Thi (A Window Lived in a Wall). The latter won the Sahitya Akademi Award for the best Hindi work in 1999 and was later adapted into a stage play by theatre director Mohan Maharishi.

Shukla was the first writer from Chhattisgarh to receive the Jnanpith Award. He was also the first Indian author to be honoured with the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature.

The Prime...