Kannada litterateur Dr Chennaveera Kanavi passes away
Bengaluru: Eminent Kannada literatteur Dr. Chennaveera Kanavi passed away at the age of 94 in the SDM Hospital in Dharwad on Wednesday morning following age-related complications, family sources said.
As a mark of respect to the litterateur, the Karnataka government has ordered that his last rites should be performed with police honours.
Born on June 29, 1928 at Hombal village in Gadag district to Sakkarappa, a school teacher, and Parvatavva, a homemaker, Kanavi had his initial schooling in the village and then he completed his higher education in Dharwad.
Kanavi had penned more than 15 books, which were compilation of poems, collection of essays and various other books.
The litterateur had won the Sahitya Akademi award for his book 'Jeevadhwani'. Besides, he received the Rajyotsava Award, Pampa Award, Nadoja title, Nrupathunga award, Sahitya Bangara Award and several other awards.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai expressed grief at the passing of Kanavi.
"Kanavi was one of the most creative writers of Kannada literary world. He and his family were very close to me for the past four decades. He is a personification of humility who used to win the hearts through his soft-spoken and gentle nature," Bommai recalled.
Recalling that Kanavi was honoured with many prestigious awards including the Nadoja award, the Chief Minister said the litterateur raised the stature of the awards.
"The Kannada literary world has suffered a huge loss in his death. It is unfortunate that we are losing so many literary greats like Champa, Siddalingaiah and now Kanavi. New writers should get inspiration from these great litterateurs and rise to attain top glory," Bommai said.
Karnataka ministers S T Somasekhar, C C Patil, V Somanna, former chief ministers Siddaramaiah, B S Yediyurappa, H D Kumaraswamy and many public representatives too expressed their condolences over the demise of Kanavi.
