Krishna Manavalli is currently a Professor in the Department of English at the University of Mysore, Karnataka. Krishna is a literary critic and translator who works in English and Kannada. In her long and brilliant academic career in the US and India, she has worked in multiple areas, such as contemporary British literature, South Asian writing, postcolonial studies, feminism, cultural studies, and translations. She also taught for many years in the US. Krishna has published internationally in important literary and cultural studies journals such as Comparative Critical Studies (UK), Journal of Contemporary Thought (US & India), Studies in South Asian Film and Media (US), Proud Flesh, African Journal of Culture, and others.
She has presented at major seminars and conferences worldwide, including the American Comparative Literature Association & Harvard University, Carnegie Foundation for Advancement of Teaching (Texas A & M), and Rocky Mountain MLA (Calgary, Canada). In addition, Krishna does freelance writing, mainly literary reviews and interviews, for the Times of India, Hindu, and Indian Express. Apart from being a member of the English Advisory Board of the Central Sahitya Akademi (New Delhi), she is on many academic and university administrative boards in the State.
Her recent publications include the translation of the renowned Kannada writer and Jnanapith award-winner Dr. Chandrashekhar Kambar’s novels Karimayi (Seagull, 2017) and Shivana Dangura (Shiva’s Drum; Speaking Tiger, 2017). Krishna received the 2017 Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award for her translation of Karimayi. Penguin Random House published her translation of Kambar’s Rishyashringa and Mahmoud Gawan titled Two Plays (2020). She has written a monograph on Chandrasekhar Kambar for the National School of Drama (2021). She has just finished translating the novel of the eminent Kannada woman writer Triveni for the Sahitya Akademi (The Puppet). Krishna’s most recent work is the translation of children’s folk tales and the play Pushparani by Kambar (Rupa, 2023)
