Udupi Rajagopalacharya Ananthamurthy (; 21 December 1932 – 22 August 2014) was a contemporary writer and critic in the
Kannada language born in Thirtahalli Taluk and is considered as one of the pioneers of the Navya movement. He is the sixth writer to be honored with the
Jnanpith Award for the Kannada language, the highest literary honour conferred in
India. In 1998, he received the
Padma Bhushan award from the
Government of India. He was the vice-chancellor of
Mahatma Gandhi University in
Kerala during the late 1980s. He was one of the finalists of
Man Booker International Prize for the year 2013. He remained a fervent critic of Hinduism and nationalistic political parties until his death from renal failure and cardiac arrest on 22 August 2014.