Sridhara Balagar, born in Balagar, Yallapur in the Uttara Kannada district and currently residing in Kumta, has been a teacher-educator for more than three decades.

He has published seven collections of short stories, four novels, and three collections of articles. His stories have been translated into English, Tamil, and Urdu. He has also translated selected writings of Peter Watson and Nirmal Verma into Kannada.

He is the recipient of many awards, including the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award (thrice); Masti Puraskar, Niranjan Sahitya Award, Shimoga Karnataka Sangh U. R. Ananthamurthy Katha Award, and Da. Ra. Bendre Literary Award, Varambally Foundation Story Award, Vardhamana Udayonmukh Award, Dr Besagarahalli Ramanna Memorial Literary Award, Azura Book Foundation Award, ‘Amma’ Award and Baraguru Book Award.