D V Guruprasad

24 JULY | 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM

GARDENIA, Southern Star, Mysuru

D.V. Guruprasad, a prolific writer who has authored seventy books in both Kannada and English, was born in Bengaluru in 1951. Always wanting to be a writer, he did his Master’s in English Literature after getting his bachelor’s degree in science. For a short period, he worked as a newspaper reporter and later as an assistant editor of a magazine. 

He changed tracks and joined the Indian Police Service in 1976. But his love for literature, especially Indian writing in English, made him pursue his academic interest even while in service. He took up research on letters written by eminent Indian writers in English and tried to establish that such letters could also be considered a genre of literature. Gulbarga University awarded him a Ph.D. degree for his thesis The Letter in Indian Writing in English. (1993). It was later published by Karnataka University. 

From the initial years of his service, Guruprasad believed that only community engagement in police work would bring about a decrease in crime. Towards this end, he started writing articles in newspapers and magazines and books to educate the community on their safety and security. He wrote columns for six different newspapers and one of his columns is currently running and is hugely popular. Through his writings and talks, Guruprasad has created awareness among the community about issues like the safety and welfare of senior citizens, the safety of women, gender issues, substance abuse, etc. 

In his 70 books, he has covered themes such as gender issues, crime prevention, criminal psychology, child rights, and child protection. He has also written two books on humour. Guruprasad’s other interest is travel. He has written three travel books, one of them on World Heritage sites.

Dr. Guruprasad has spoken in the Kannada Sahitya Sammelana Dharwad, Bangalore Literature Festival- 2018, and Sahitya Sambrama Dharwad. He is a bestselling author and several of his books have gone into more than 5 reprints. He retired from the IPS in 2011 as Director General of Police and is a full-time writer.