Kurella Vittalacharya
A Telugu poet and retired teacher who turned his village home into a library of more than two lakh books, honoured with the Padma Shri in 2024.
Kurella Vittalacharya is a Telugu poet, writer and teacher best known for the library he built in his village. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2024 in the field of literature and education, from Telangana [1].
Scholar and teacher
He was born on 9 July 1938 in Vellanki, a small village in Ramannapet mandal of Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district [2]. At Osmania University he wrote an MPhil thesis on serial novels in Telugu and a PhD on how the freedom struggle was portrayed in Telugu novels up to 1947 [2]. He has written about 30 books [2].
As a teacher and headmaster he improved every school he worked in, and won state best teacher and best headmaster awards [2].
Literacy and libraries
He has set up a string of organisations to encourage literary, cultural and educational activity in rural areas [2]. He also ran a house-to-house literacy drive, persuading older people to learn at least to write their own names [2].
After retiring, he turned his house in Vellanki into a library that opened with 5,000 books [2]. It now fills a two-storey building with more than two lakh books, and research scholars from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have used it for their doctoral work [2].
His work was praised in episode 84 of Mann Ki Baat [2]. The Telangana government has given him the Mahakavi Dasaradhi Puraskaram [2].
Sources
- [1] Padma Awards 2024: list of awardees — Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Accessed 15 October 2026.
- [2] Padma Awards 2024: citation for Kurella Vittalacharya — Padma Awards, Government of India. Accessed 15 October 2026.
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