Girish Karnad

Girish was the third of the four children born thereafter. Karnad's initial schooling was in Marathi. Later, after his father was transferred to Sirsi in the Kannada -speaking regions of Bombay Presidency , Karnad was exposed to travelling theatre groups and nataka mandalis (theatre troupes), which were experiencing a period of efflorescence during the iconic Balgandharva era . As a youngster, he was an ardent admirer of Yakshagana and the theater in his village.

His family moved to Dharwad in Karnataka when he was fourteen, where he grew up with his two sisters and a niece. After working with the Oxford University Press , Chennai for seven years (1963–70), he resigned to take to writing full-time. While in Madras (now known as Chennai) he got involved with local amateur theatre group, The Madras Players . During 1987–88, he was at the University of Chicago as visiting professor and Fulbright playwright-in-residence.

During his tenure at Chicago Nagamandala had its world premiere at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis based on Karnad's English translation of the Kannada original. He served as director of the Film and Television Institute of India (1974–1975) and chairman of the Sangeet Natak Akademi , the national academy of the performing arts (1988–93). He served as director of the Nehru Centre and as Minister of Culture, in the Indian High Commission, London (2000–2003).