VIJAYAWADA: Eminent Telugu short story writer and Sahitya Akademi awardee Peddibhotla Subbaramayya passed away after prolonged illness in Vijayawada on Friday. He was 79. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressed condolences to the bereaved family ofSubbaramayya who had brought laurels to the Telugu-speaking states. “His demise is an irreparable loss to Telugu literature,” he observed.
Born in Guntur district on December 15, 1938, Subbaramayya moved to Vijayawada in early 1950s for college education after his schooling in Ongole. He had studied at SRR and CVR Government Degree College in Vijayawada and was a student of the legendary writer Viswanatha Satyanarayana. Even though Subbaramayya prolifically wrote poetry as a student, his teacher Viswanatha Satyanarayana suggested to him to write short stories. His first story was published in 1959 in a noted newspaper.
After completing his college, Subbarayamayya joined Andhra Loyola College as a Telugu lecturer and continued teaching for four decades before retiring in 1996. Even while working as a lecturer, Subbaramayya continued writing short stories, novels and articles for various magazines and newspapers.
He has over 200 stories to his credit and was awarded the prestigious Sahitya Akademi award in 2012 for ‘Peddibhotla Subbaramayya Kathalu (Volume-1)’.
Subbaramayya’s stories often mirrored the lives of middle class people, especially their jealousies and frustrations. A recipient of Ravi Sastry Memorial Sahitya Puraskar, Gopichand Memorial Award, Appajyosyula Puraskar and others, Subbaramayya strongly believed that education played a pivotal role in shaping an individual’s personality.