: कुसुमावती देशपांडे) (1904–1961) was a Marathi

Marathi people

The Marathi people or Maharashtrians are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, that inhabit the Maharashtra region and state of western India. Their language Marathi is part of the southern group of Indo-Aryan languages...

 writer from Maharashtra

Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.

She was born on November 10, 1904 in Amravati

Amravati

Amravati is a city in the state of Maharashtra, India and the seventh most populous metropolitan area in Maharashtra. It is also the administrative headquarters of the Amravati district...

, Maharashtra, her maiden having been Kusum Jaywant. Her father was a lawyer.

After finishing her high school education at Huzurpaga (HHCP) girl's school in Pune

Pune

Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...

 in 1921, she studied for four years in Fergusson College

Fergusson College

Fergusson College is a degree college in western India, situated in the city of Pune. It was founded in 1885 by the Deccan Education Society and at that time was the first privately governed college in India. It is named after Sir James Fergusson, the Governor of Bombay, who donated a then...

, also in Pune, before moving to Nagpur

Nagpur

Nāgpur is a city and winter capital of the state of Maharashtra, the largest city in central India and third largest city in Maharashtra after Mumbai and Pune...

 and receiving her B.A. degree from Nagpur University in 1926. She went to the UK to receive in 1929 a B.A. in English Literature from Westfield College

Westfield College

Westfield College was a small college situated in Kidderpore Avenue, Hampstead, London, and was a constituent college of the University of London from 1882 to 1989. The college originally admitted only women as students and became coeducational in 1964. In 1989, Westfield College merged with Queen...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. The same year she married Atmaram Ravaji Deshpande

Atmaram Ravaji Deshpande

Atmaram Raoji Deshpande was a Marathi poet from Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, India. He wrote poems under the pen name Anil . He was born on 11 September 1901 at Murtijapur in Akola district of Central India...

 alias Kavi Anil and took the name Kusumavati Deshpande.

For over 25 years since 1931, Deshpande taught English Literature at Nagpur University.

Literary work

Deshpande wrote a critical book Marathi Kadambariche Pahile Shatak (मराठी कादंबरीचे पहिले शतक).

Four collections of her short essays and short stories have been published:

• Deepakali (दीपकळी)
• Deepadan (दीपदान)
• Moli (मोळी)
• Pasang (पासंग)

A collection of letters between Deshpande and her husband have been published under the title Kusumanil (कुसुमानिल).

Deshpande presided over Marathi Sahitya Sammelan

Marathi Sahitya Sammelan

Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan is a conference for literary discussions by Marathi writers. Though the conference has sometimes been held in a town outside the Indian state of Maharashtra, it is typically held annually in one of the towns in Maharashtra where Marathi is the mother tongue...

 in Gwalior in 1961. (Her husband had presided over the event in 1958.) She was the first female president of the annual Sammelan since its inception in 1878. (Following her, there have been three more female presidents until now.)