Bihar has produced a number of
poet, writers and scholars, including Tahir Gayavi the great islamic scholar
Azhar Sabri urdu poet from belwar Gaya, Nikita singh great author the great
writer and Buddhist scholar Hrishikesh Sulabh are the prominent writers of the
new generation. The later is a short story writer, playwright and theatre
critic. Arun Kamal and Aalok Dhanwa are the well-known poets. Different regional
languages also have produced some prominent poets and authors. Sharat Chandra
Chattopadhyay is among the greatest writers in Bangla, resided for some time in
Bihar. Of late, the latest Indian writer in English, Upamanyu Chatterjee also
hails from Patna in Bihar. Devaki Nandan Khatri, who rose to fame at the
beginning of the 20th century on account of his novels such as Chandrakanta and
Chandrakanta Santati, was born in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. Vidyapati Thakur is the
most renowned poet of Maithili.
Interestingly, the first Indian author in English was a Bihari, Deen Mohammad.
Among the contemporary writers in English Amitava Kumar, Tabish Khair and
Sidhharth Chaoudhary are important names. Sidhharth Chaoudhary has been
shortlisted for 2009 Man Asia Literary prize for his book Day Scholar. Bihar has
a rich heritage of reading and writing habits. Because of this, there is a great
desire and hunger for books among the general public. It is said that people
here can forgo food for a day but not their daily dose of book reading. A fact
brought out by the numerous personal libraries and the huge number of great
writers, authors, poets and students. In fact wherever one goes in this world,
one would certainly find students from Bihar out there. Be it Harvard, MIT,
Oxford, Cambridge or IIM Ahmedabad.