Sunita Deshpande

Sunita Deshpande (3 July 1926 – 7 November 2009) was a Marathi writer from Maharashtra, India.
Her maiden name was Sunita Thakur. She met Pu La Deshpande (पु. ल. देशपांडे) in 1945, and they were married the next year on 12 June 1946.
Sunita-bai was a prolific reader during her youth, but began writing rather late in her life. She wrote her memoirs Aahe Manohar Tari... (आहे मनोहर तरी...) in 1990 (Mauj Publ.). The book received many awards. It has been translated into Gujarati (manohar chhe pan by Suresh Dalal, SNDT, Mumbai 1992), Hindi (Hai Sabse madhur phir bhi by Rekha Deshpande, Orient Longman 1996), Kannada (Balu Sogasadaru, by Uma Kulkarni, Mahila Sahitya, Hubli) and English (..And Pine For What Is Not, by Gauri Deshpande, Orient Longman, 1995).
Several years ago, she and her husband presented many public programs of reciting the works of poets including Arati Prabhu, (चीं त्र खानोलकर) (Bal Sitaram Mardhekar, and Balakrishna Bhagwant Borkar.
She has acted in Marathi movies like Vande Maataram, Navra Bayko, and plays like Sunder mee honaar, Raajemaster, and Rajamaataa Jijaabai (solo show)
The Deshpande couple donated large sums of money to charitable causes. Pu La Deshpande died on 12 June 2000.
Sunita-bai, as she was fondly known as,was also a prolific correspondent.Her book "प्रिय जी.ए." (Her collection of numerous letters written by her to her pen-pal and famous Marathi writer G. A. Kulkarni won her the first "G A Kulkarni Award" for her remarkable literary contributions and influence in 2008.
Sunitabai Deshpande died on November 7, 2009 due to old age at her residence in Pune. She was 83 years old.

The following is a partial list of Sunita Deshpande's books:

• आहे मनोहर तरी... (Ahe Manohar Tari...) (Mauj Pub., Mumbai 1990)
• प्रिय जी.ए. (Priya G. A. : Collection of letters written in Marathi to writer G. A. Kulkarni)(Mauj Pub., Mumbai 2003)
• मण्यांची माळ (Mauj Pub., Mumbai 2002)
• मनातलं अवकाश (Mauj Pub., Mumbai 2006)
• सोयरे सकळ (Mauj Pub., Mumbai 1998)
• समांतर जीवन Sammantar Jeevan (Sun Pub., 1992)