Guruprasad Kaginele is a medical doctor and a prominent voice in contemporary Kannada literature. He has published four short story collections, four novels, and two essay collections. His works have received several awards, with many of his short stories featured in anthologies published by the Karnataka Sahitya Akademi. Kaginele has also served as the primary editor for two books released by the US-based Kannada Sahitya Ranga. Some of his short stories have been translated into Telugu, Konkani, Malayalam, and English.
His novel Hijab (2017) garnered both popular and critical acclaim and was named the best novel of 2018 by the Karnataka Sahitya Akademi. In 2020, the English version of Hijab was published by Simon & Schuster, India. The novel was shortlisted for the Atta Galatta-Bangalore Literature Festival Book Awards and was a finalist for Best Translated Works from India in the 2021 edition of the Valley of Words Award. Hijab was also listed among the best translated works of 2020 by The Outpost and featured in The Bombay Review’s list of the 100 best books from India.
Kaginele lives with his family in Rochester, Minnesota, where he works as an emergency physician at Olmsted Medical Center.