Background
Prakash was born on January 1, 1952 in the "backward" village of Sitapur, Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh, India. He raised and received primary education there by a teacher.
journalist translator scholars poet
Prakash was born on January 1, 1952 in the "backward" village of Sitapur, Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh, India. He raised and received primary education there by a teacher.
He graduated in Science and obtained his Master’s degree in Hindi Literature, receiving a Gold Medal from Saugar University in 1974. From 1975-76 he was a research student at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
In 1978 Prakash taught as an Assistant Professor at JNU, and its Imphal Center for Post Graduate Studies. In 1980 he left academia, to become Officer-on-Special-Duty with the Madhya Pradesh Department of Culture. At the same time, he was Controlling Officer of the Bhopal Rabindra Bhawan, and assistant editor of Poorvagraha, a journal of Hindi literary criticism. (He was later critical of the Hindi literary establishment including Ashok Vajpeyi, who he worked for at Poorvagraha.)
From 1982-90, Prakash worked in New Delhi newspapers; first as a subeditor of the Hindi news weekly Dinmaan, and later as Assistant Editor of the Sunday Mail. In 1987 becoming Assistant Professor at the School of Social Journalism (on deputation). In 1990 he joined ITV, (Independent Television), and became head of the PTI TV Concept and Script Department. Since 1993, he has been a full-time freelance writer (and sometime director - for instance, the Ministry of Agriculture commissioned him to research, write, and direct the 15-episode television documentary Krishi Katha on Indian agricultural history, broadcast in 1997).
Prakash was the editor of the monthly English language magazine "Eminence" (published in Bangalore) until April 2000.
Prakash won the 2010 Sahitya Akademi Award in Hindi for his collection of short stories, Mohan Das.
He also participated in the international poetry festivals and seminars.