Laxman Bapu Mane

Laxman Bapu Mane (born 1 June 1949) is a Marathi writer and a social activist from Maharashtra, India. Mane came to sudden fame after publishing his autobiography Upara (An Outsider), in 1980. Upara was considered as a milestone in Marathi Dalit literature and received Sahitya Akademi Award in 1981 and Padma Shri in 2009. He is a former member of Maharashtra's legislative council. Mane was born on 1 June 1949 in a small village Somanthali, Phaltan (Maharashtra) in a nomadic tribe in India. He wrote his autobiography (Upara) in 1980, for which he received the Sahitya Akadami award in 1981.