Veteran writer and founder of Kathanilayam, Kalipatnam Ramarao, passes away

VISAKHAPATNAM: Veteran writer and founder of Kathanilayam, Kalipatnam Ramarao passed away at his residence in Srikakulam on Friday. He was 97.
Ramarao was born at Murapaka village under Laveru mandal in 1924.
He had established a unique library called Kathanilayam in Srikakulam where one could find Telugu stories published since 1930.
The library has over 80 per cent of all the short stories written in Telugu in the last ten decades.As a policy, the library doesn’t charge a fee.
The unique library Katha Nilayam has emerged as a one-stop-shop for all queries on Telugu short stories and the library has also emerged the first and best point of reference for many research scholars and Telugu teachers in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states.
The library has over 450 anthologies and over 2,600 collections, besides scores of books on critical appraisals of short stories and writers.
Ramarao himself has authored stories that deal with complex human relationships in villages in very simple language.
He shot to fame in 1964 with his story Yagnam. In the story, the protagonist kills his son to finish an endless cycle of debt.
Over 20,000 old newspapers and photos of famous writers and also kept in the Katha Nilayam. The Telugu Academy has published Katha Kosam in 2005, providing the details of over 2,000 writers with the support of Katha Nilayam
Several poets and writers recalled the great contribution of Ramarao Master to Telugu Literature and they expressed that the death of Kara Master was a great loss to Telugu literatrue and North Andhra Pradesh.