Background
Kurtakoti was born in the town of Gadag in the Indian state of Karnataka on October 13, 1928.
Kurtakoti was born in the town of Gadag in the Indian state of Karnataka on October 13, 1928.
He completed his graduation in Bachelor of Arts from Karnatak College in Dharwad and served as a teacher in few colleges, before moving to the town of Anand in Gujarat. He completed his post-graduation in English and was employed at the Sardar Patel University in Gujarat.
Apart from Kannada, he was well-versed in other languages including Hindi and Sanskrit. His most prominent Kannada work is Marathi Samskruti - Kelavu Samasyegalu (Marathi Culture - Some Problems) which was originally written in Marathi by Sham. Bha. Joshi. Kannada Book Authority (KBA) allegedly included this translated version in a publication that it brought out, without taking the permission of Kurtakoti, forcing him to send a legal notice to KBA. Other books include,, and
He has also written plays like, which have been staged by troupes like Ninasam.
He spent his retired life at Dharwad. He held certain positions like that of an adviser to Manohara Granthamele, a publishing house and was also nominated to the Jnanpith language panel.
On 31 July 2003, aged 75, he died of cardiac arrest, just about three hours after his wife"s death.
He was also a member of the syndicate of the Kannada University at Hampi.