Kalekuri Prasad
Kalekuri Prasad was a Telugu poet, writer, literary critic, and dalit revolutionary activist.
Life
Kalekuri Prasad was born on October 25, 1962 in Kanchikacherla village, Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh to Lalita Sarojini and Srinivasa Rao. His parents were teachers in a missionary school.Kalekuri completed his primary and high school education in Eluru and Kanchikacherla. He then went to Guntur Andhra Christian College in the early 1980s where he became involved in dalit activism.
Dalit movement in Andhra Pradesh
Prasad worked in Jananatyamandali, Virsam, and former member of People's War Group. He actively participated in the Dalit movement at the time of the Chundur Massacre/Tsundur massacre, Karamchedu massacre, along with Bojja Tharakam, K.G. Satyamurthi, and others. He participated in the World Conference against Racism 2001, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Tolerance, which was organised by the United Nations in Durban from 31 August to 8 September. He contested from the Nandigama Assembly constituency in 1994 Elections from the Bahujan Samaj Party and secured 1,467 votes.Works
Prasad's songs have been used in films. He edited magazines. He translated 70 books from English to Telugu including the works The End of Imagination and The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. He wrote in Telugu "Andhra Pradesh lo Dalitulu". He used Yuvaka as pen name for his poems.Books
Dalit Literature Dalita KiranaluDalit Movement – Dalit Literary MovementDalita Hakkula NighaAndhra Pradesh DalitsFor a Fistful of Self Respect- ''Untouchable Love ''
Translations
- Swami Dharma Theertha – The Menace of Hindu Imperialism
- Arundhati Roy – The End of Imagination ; The God of Small Things
- Kishore Shantabai Kale – Against All Odds
- Primo Levi – If This Is a Man
- Mahasweta Devi – Choli ke Peeche, Paalatalli, Rudali
- Khalil Gibran – Selected poetry
- Vandana Shiva, Utsa Patnaik, Krishna Kumar, Palagummi Sainath, KS Chalam – Various essays
- John Holt – How Children Learn
- A.G. Noorani – Islam–Jihad
- Che Guevara – Revolutionary Politics
- Basheer – Short stories
Songs
- Karma Bhumilo Pusina O Puvva
- Bhumiki Pachani Rangesinattu
- ''Chinni Chinni Asalanni''