Vidya Vindu Singh

Vidya Vindu Singh is a writer, editor and speaker who has worked for more than 60 years to record and share India’s folk traditions. She worked as chief editor, deputy director and joint director at the Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthan in Lucknow. She was named for the Padma Shri in 2022 in the field of literature and education, from Uttar Pradesh ^[1].

Recording folk traditions

Singh was born on 2 July 1945 in Jaitpur village, in what is now Ambedkar Nagar district ^[2]. She took an MA from Agra University, a BEd from Gorakhpur University and a PhD from Banaras Hindu University ^[2]. She has compiled folk songs, stories, sayings and beliefs about worship, farming and the environment, and explains them in talks and performances ^[2].

She has 118 publications, with more in press, including books for children and adults ^[2]. Her work has been translated into several Indian languages and Japanese, and the Nepali translation of her poetry collection Sach ke Paanv won a Sahitya Akademi award ^[2]. She has edited the magazines Sahitya Bharti and Baal Vani and worked on dictionaries of Braj Bhasha and Awadhi ^[2].

In her village

Every year she organises a lecture series whose talks are published free, and a festival in her home village on fading folk arts and culture, with plays, debates and a free health check-up camp ^[2]. She set up a trust that works to improve life for poor families in the area ^[2].