Mohammed Abdul Khadar Mohiudeen was born in a remote village called Cheemulapadu in Krishna district. His family spoke Urdu, Arabic, Hindi, and Persian besides Telugu. He was forced to leave school due to poverty and studied privately. He began writing in 1975 while working with the political weekly, Soujanya. His poem ‘Puttumaccha’ (Birthmark) took the Telugu literary world by storm in 1990, much before the Muslimvaada (Muslim identity movement) took hold in Andhra Pradesh. He helped form the Muslim Representation Movement to fight for minority rights in the 90s, and has undertaken several translations from Hindi, English and Urdu into Telugu. 
Year: 2014-15