Prof. Vasudha Mhaskar
President
Taught Marathi literature at Ketakigaon College for 31 years. A member since 1989.
About us
A Marathi literary organisation in Ketakigaon that has run lectures, poetry evenings and an annual issue since 1987.
Our history
Sahitya Bharati was started by four schoolteachers, a retired postmaster and two college students who wanted a place to talk about the books they were reading. The first meetings were held on Sunday mornings, with tea paid for by whoever had been paid that month.
Nearly four decades later the circle is a registered public trust with its own reading room, a library of more than 6,000 books and a small publishing programme. The Sunday meetings still continue.
-
1987
The first Sunday reading circle
Eleven people meet in a room above Joshi Printing Press. The first book discussed is a collection of short stories borrowed from the town library.
-
1991
Registered as a public trust
The circle takes the name Sahitya Bharati, adopts a written constitution and elects a committee of seven.
-
1994
The first annual issue
A 96-page Diwali issue of poems, stories and essays is printed in 500 copies. It sells out in three weeks.
-
1999
Kavi Katta begins
An open poetry evening where anyone may read. It has met on the second Saturday of every month since then.
-
2006
A reading room of our own
A flat on Tilak Path, given by a member’s family, becomes Sahitya Bharati Bhavan, with a reading room open six days a week.
-
2012
The schools programme
An inter-school essay competition starts with 14 schools. Last year 63 schools from the district took part.
-
2019
Vasant Vyakhyanmala
A spring lecture series on modern Marathi literature, held over five evenings every April.
-
2024
An archive of past issues
Thirty years of annual issues are scanned so that readers can download them as PDFs.
Vision and mission
Vision
A Maharashtra where children grow up reading Marathi for pleasure, and where new writers find readers, editors and an audience close to home.
Mission
We hold regular, free programmes where readers and writers meet: lectures, poetry evenings, book discussions and workshops.
We publish an annual issue and a quarterly magazine that give space to new writers alongside established ones.
We work with schools and colleges through competitions, reading sessions and a lending library, so that young people have good books within reach.
Trustees and committee
Sahitya Bharati is run by an elected committee and a board of trustees. All of them give their time without payment.
Office bearers
Madhav Joshi-Bapat
Vice President
Novelist and retired bank officer. Edits the fiction section of the Diwali Ank.
Shrirang Deshmane
Secretary
Runs the office, the programme calendar and the schools programme. A member since 2004.
Neela Padhye
Treasurer
A chartered accountant who has kept the trust’s accounts since 2015.
Trustees
Arvind Sathe
Trustee
One of the eleven people at the first Sunday meeting in 1987.
Dr Revati Kanetkar
Trustee
Literary critic. Plans the Vasant Vyakhyanmala lectures each year.
Prakash Dhamdhere
Trustee
Translates fiction from Kannada and Telugu into Marathi.
Sunanda Bhide
Trustee
Writes for children and leads the writing workshops for young readers.