Ramesh Karthik Nayak is the winner of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar in Telugu in 2024 for his short story collection, “Dhavlo” . He is the first tribal and the youngest Telugu author to receive this honour at the age of 26. He is a bilingual poet and short- story writer from Telangana. He has four books to his credit, three in Telugu – Balder Bandi, Dhaavlo and Kesula; and a poetry collection in English, Chakmak. He is one of the first writers in Telugu to depict the lifestyle of the Banjaras. His poems have appeared in Poetry at Sangam, Indian Periodical, Live Wire, Outlook India, Nether Quarterly, Borderless Journal, The Riveraine, Ethos literary Journal and Indian Literature, and have been translated into Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali and Assamese. A translation of his short story “The Story of Birth” was published in Exchanges: Journal of Literary Translation, University of IOWA. He has received Kalahamsa Kavitha Puraskaram,; Tribal Young Achievers Award from Telangana state government; Banjara Youth Icon Award; Ravi Sastri Katha Puraskaram among others. Some of his poems are part of higher education syllabus in Telugu literature in both Telugu states.