Eva Dave

Eva Dave, born Praful Nandshankar Dave, was Gujarati language story writer and novelist from Gujarat, India.

Life

Dave was born on 5 March 1931 at Baroda (now Vadodara). His family belonged to Nadiad.  He completed his primary and secondary education from Nadiad and matriculated in 1949. He completed BA in Gujarati in 1953 and MA in 1955. He completed BEd from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in 1956. He studied MA in Education in 1957 and PhD in 1963 from Washington University, US.^[1][2]

He taught at school in Vallabh Vidyanagar from 1952 to 1956. He also served as a principal in school of Alina in 1955. He worked as a research assistant in Washington University from 1960 to 1962. He served as a research associate in Saint Louise Mental Hospital, US in 1963. He returned India in 1964. He served as the Reader from 1964 to 1972 and as the Professor from 1972 to 1974 in Mysore Regional College of Education, India. He served as a principal-in-charge of Ajmer Regional College of Education from 1977 to 1944. In 1977, he joined NCERT, New Delhi as the Reader and later served as the Professor until his retirement in 1991. He died on 26 September 2009.^[1][2]

Works

Novellas are the chief contribution of Dave. His first novella Sabuni Kakadi was published in Prajabandhu daily. He was a modernist story writer. His stories explore relationships, family life and the life in west. His collections of stories are Agantuk (1969), Tarangininu Swapna (1971), Tahomatdar (1980), Kalrakshas (1999) and Chhellu Farman (2005). Agantuk had 25 stories while Tarangininu Swapna had 18 stories with fresh subjects.^[1][2]

Isune Charane: Preyasi (1970) contains two romantic short novels. Mishra Lohi (1999) is his another novel.^[1][2]

Awards

He is awarded prizes by Gujarati Sahitya Parishad and Gujarati Sahitya Akademi for his short stories. He received Govardhanram Tripathi Prize and 14th Doomketu Navlika Puraskar.^[2]

References