Noted Marathi author and Sahitya akademi awardee Anand Yadav died in Pune. He was 80. According to sources close to his family Yadav breathed his last at his residence. His autobiography ‘Zombi’ had won Sahitya Akadmi award in 1991. During his illustrious career, Yadav had faced a major controversy over his book ‘Santsurya Tukaram‘, wrote on Sant Tukaram, a saint poet from 17th century.

• He was elected president of the 82nd Akhil Bharatiya Sahitya Sammelan, the prestigious literary meet, held in March 2009.
• However, he had to resign following the controversy surrounding some remarks in the novel.
• In the following year, a Marathi movie ‘Natrang‘ based on Yadav’s novel with the same name, was released bringing him back into the limelight.
• Yadav was elected as the president of the 82nd Marathi Sahitya Sammelan which was held at Mahabaleshwar in March 2009.
• Yadav had penned around 40 books which comprise collection of essays and poems among others.
• He was born on November 30, 1935 in the village Kagal near Kolhapur, Maharashtra in a poor family.
•  His illiterate farmer father was not in favor of educating him. So young Yadav ran away from home, and, facing many hardships, received education as high as a doctorate from Pune University.
• His books such as Jhombi and Nangarani depict his struggle for education