Yashwant Vithoba Chittal (born 3 August 1928) is one of the leading Kannada fiction writers and an Academy award recipient for his work Purusottama.

He was born in Hanehalli

Bankikodla-Hanehalli

Bankikodla-Hanehalli , twin villages of Uttar Kannada district are neighbouring villages in a valley in the south western section of Karnataka, India. Together they form a community of people from different castes and religions....

, Uttar Kannada District. He completed his primary school education from his village school and his high school from the Gibbs High School, Kumta

Gibbs High School, Kumta

Gibb High School, Kumta, is one of the oldest high schools in Uttar Kannada district. The school was established on4 June 1908. It is one of the private high schools of the district started at the beginning of 1900s and was initially named "New English School, Kumta" to distinguish it from the...

 (1944). Although he studied science and technology and subsequently had a career in the field of technology, he pursued a literary craft at the same time.

Awards

Although known for his many novels and short stories, Chittal has also authored literary criticism and essays. His early writing shows the influence of his brother Gangadhar V. Chittal

Gangadhar V. Chittal

Gangadhar V. Chittal was a recipient of Karnataka Sahitya Academy award. He held several administrative positions for the Government of India and audited several Indian Embassies and Consulates...

, an eminent poet. His writings including The girl who became a story either depict the culture of his village Hanehalli

Bankikodla-Hanehalli

Bankikodla-Hanehalli , twin villages of Uttar Kannada district are neighbouring villages in a valley in the south western section of Karnataka, India. Together they form a community of people from different castes and religions....

 in the Uttar Kannada District or the surroundings of Bandra in Mumbai

Mumbai

Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

. His later novels portraying the themes of urban reality and related complexities of modern Indian life, show the influence of the Radical Humanist M.N. Roy and Eric Fromm

Eric Fromm

Eric Fromm is a former tennis player from the United States. Perhaps Fromm's best result was reaching the fourth round of the French Open in 1983 in singles, where he lost comprehensively to Jimmy Connors....

. His subjectivity has always been intensely involved with the contemporary socio-political realities.
He has many prestigious awards including the Karnataka Sahitya Akademi

Sahitya Akademi

The Sahitya Akademi ', India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India...

 award in 1979, 1980, and 1990; the Sahitya Akademi

Sahitya Akademi

The Sahitya Akademi ', India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India...

 award in 1983; Dr.Masti

Maasti Venkatesh Iyengar

Maasthi Venkatesha Iyengar was a popular writer in Kannada language. He was the fourth person among eight recipients of Jnanpith Award for Kannada the highest literary honour conferred in India. He was popularly referred to as Maasti Kannadada Aasti which means Maasti is Kannada's Treasure...

 award in 1983 ; and Adikavi Pampa

Adikavi Pampa

Pampa , called by the honorific Ādikavi is one of the greatest Kannada poets of all time.He is very famous even today for his philosophical beliefs...

 award in 2008.

Selected books

• Bommiy hullu hore (1949 - his first novel)
• Muru darigalu (A movie was made in Kannada)
• Sikari.
• Purusottama Translated from the Kannada by Sharmas (Penguin Books)
• Aata.
• Kateyadalu hudugi in the book The Boy who talked to trees (book)
  The Boy who talked to trees (book)
  The Boy who talked to trees is a collection of short stories by Yashwant V. Chittal who received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983. The book was translated into English by Ramachandra Shrama and Padma Ramachandra in 1994 published by Penguin Books. The book includes 13 stories, all set in the...
  
  - Sahitya Akademi Award.
• Kendra Vrittanta
• Sahityada sapta dhatugalu.
• The Boy Who Talked to Trees Translated from the Kannada by Sharmas (Penguin Books)
• Puttana Hejje Konodilla
• Digambara (writing)