Jayant Kaikini, Kannada poet, short story writer, columnist and playwright with six short story volumes, five poetry collections, three collections of non-fiction, and three plays to his credit, is also a much sought-after award-winning lyricist, script and dialogue writer for Kannada films. He won his first Karnataka Sahitya Academy award at the age of nineteen in 1974 for his debut poetry collection followed by three more in 1982, 1989 and 1996, for his short story collections. He has also received the Dinakar Desai award for poetry, B H Sridhar award for fiction, Katha National Award and the Rujuwathu Trust Fellowship for his writing. He is the recipient of the Karnataka State Award for best dialogue and lyrics, and the Filmfare Award for best lyrics in Kannada four times – in 2008, 2009, 2016 and 2017.
Born in the coastal temple-town Gokarn, Kaikini is a biochemist by training and worked with pharmaceutical companies in Mumbai for two decades before moving to Bangalore where he lives presently. A well-known television personality, he was conferred with an honourary doctorate from the Tumkur University in 2011 for his contribution to Kannada literature, film and television. He was honoured as Zee Kannadiga of the Decade in 2016. He was the first recipient of the Kusumagraj Rashtriya Bhasha Sahitya Puraskar in 2010 awarded for literature. His latest book is an anthology of essays on cinema.