Bal Sitaram Mardhekar (1909-56) --- During the 1940s, modernity entered Marathi poetry through the highly original works of Bal Sitaram Mardhekar, along with those of P. S. Rege, Manmohan Natu and Sharatchandra Muktibodh. B. S. Mardhekar is accordingly the pioneer of modernity in Marathi literature. He brought about a radical shift of sensibility in Marathi poetry. He was educated in Pune and London and worked with the All India Radio. His earlier collection Shishiraagam (The Advent of Shishir) was sentimental, lyrical and conventional. But his second avant-garde collection Kanhi Kavita (Some Poems) brought about a storm in Marathi literary world. Similar to what Baudelaire did for the French poetry, he did for Marathi poetry by bringing in the decadent urban ethos. The other collection of Mardhekar was titled Anakhi Kanhi Kavita (Some More Poems). Although he was influenced by the tradition of Marathi bhakti poetry, on the one hand, and the poetry of TS Eliot, on the other, this 'crosspollination' generated a new awareness in poetic creativity. He was also an influential critic and an experimental novelist. His novels are attempts to bring in the stream of consciousness technique into Marathi. His Saundrya Ani Sahitya (Beauty and Literature) has greatly influenced the development of Marathi critical thought. Mardhekar's poetry is historically important because for the first time it introduced in Marathi a modernist consciousness and an idiom appropriate to it. His poetry is a classic example of nativisation of Western influence.

P. S. Rege (1910-1978) --- Purshottam Shivram Rege was born in a village in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. He was educated at Bombay and at London School of Economics. Working as a teacher, he was Principal of Elphinstone College, Bombay (1962-69). A poet, playwright, fiction writer and academic, his collections of poems include Sadhana, Himshikha, Pushkala, Dusra Pakshi and Priyal. He also has two collections of short stories, prose works like Savitri and plays like Ranga Panchalika. He was President of the Marathi Sahitya Sammelan in 1969.

Vinda Karandikar (1918) --- Govind Vinâyak Karandikar was born in the small town Ghalwan in Sindhudurga district of seaside Konkan region of Maharashtra.  He worked in Ruia College and IAES College in Mumbai as a Professor and retired in 1976. Apart from poetry, he has also contributed to Marathi literature as an essayist, critic and translator. His collections include Shwetaganga (1949), Mrudgandha (1954), Dhrupad (1959), Jatak (1968), Virupika (1981) and Ashtadarshane (2003). Vinda Karandikar is the recipient of the Jnanpeeth Award (for 2003). He has been honoured with many other awards including Keshavsut Prize, Soviet Land Nehru Literary Award, Kabir Samman, Konark Samman.

Sadanand Rege (1923-1982) --- Sadanand Rege began writing in 1940's. He was in the academic profession and was a Professor of English in Ramnarain Ruia College, Bombay. Among his collections of poems are Aksharvel and Devapudhacha Diva. He was the recipient of Maharashtra State award and Soviet Land Nehru award.

Narayan Surve (b. 1926) --- Narayan Gangaram Surve virtuall grew up in the streets of Mumbai. He is committed to progressivism. Among his literary works are Aisa Ga Mee Brahma, Maaze Vidyapeeth, Zaheernama, Sanad, Manush Kalawant and Ani Samaj. He is the recipient of Golden Lotus Award and Kabir Samman.

Mangesh Keshav Padgaonkar (b. 1929) --- Mangesh Keshav Padgaonkar was born in Vengurla, Sindhudurg District, Maharashtra. A Master of Arts in Marathi and Sanskrit from the University of Bombay, he was an Editor with the U.S. Information Service in Mumbai. He has more than forty publications to his credit. He is the recipient of several awards including the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1980  and the Maharashtra State Award in 1953 and 1955. 

Arun Balkrishna Kolatkar (1932–2004) --- Arun Balkrishna Kolatkar was born in Kolhapur, Maharastra. He had his education as a fine artist from JJ School of Arts and he worked as an art director and graphic designer in many reputed advertising agencies like Lintas. His Marathi poetry collections include Arun Kolatkarcha Kavita (1977), Chirimiri (2004), Bhijki Vahi (2004) and Droan (2004). His collections of English poems include Jejuri (1976), which won the prestigious Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1977. His other collections of English poetry are Kala Ghoda Poems and Sarpasatra (2004). He received the Kusumagraj Puraskar given by the Marathwada Sahitya Parishad in 1991 and Bahinabai Puraskar given by Bahinabai Prathistan in 1995. He has also received the prestigious CAG award given in the field of advertising for six times and consequently was admitted to the CAG Hall of Fame. The Sahitya Akademi honoured him with a posthumous award (2004), for his Bhijaki Vahi.

Dilip Chitre (b. 1938) --- Dilip Purushottam Chitre was born in Baroda. He is a Marathi poet who also writes in English. He is a painter and filmmaker too. He started Shabda, with Arun Kolatkar and Ramesh Samarth. In 1975, he was invited by the International Writing Programme of the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, in the United States. Among his publications are Kavita,1960, Orpheus,1968, Sheeba Raneechya Shodhaat,1969, Kavitenantarchyaa Kavita,1978, Chaavyaa,1983, Dahaa By Dahaa,1983, Mithu Mithu Porat ani Sutak,1989, Tirkas Ani Chaukas, 1980, Punha Tukaram,1990, Ekoon Kavita-1, Ekoon Kavita-2 and Ekoon Kavita-3, 1995. Travelling in the Cage is his collection of English poems. He has also edited An Anthology of Marathi Poetry from 1945-1965. He has prolifically translated prose and poetry. Among Chitre’s honours and awards are Maharashtra State Awards, the Prix Special du Jury for his film Godam at the Festival des Trois Continents at Nantes in France in 1984, the Ministry of Human Resource Development’s Emeritus Fellowship, the Indira Gandhi Fellowship, the Villa Waldberta Fellowship and the Sahitya Akademi award (1994) for his Ekun Kavita-I.

Vasant Abaji Dahake (b.1942) --- Vasant Abaji Dahake is a poet, playwright, short story writer, artist and critic. His collections of poems are Yogabhrast (1972), Shubha Vartaman and Shunah Shepa. His novellas are Adholoka and Pratibadha and Martya. Ranjit Hoskote and Mangesh Kulkarni have translated some of his poems as Terrorist of Spirit.

Namdev Laxman Dhasal (b. 1949) --- Namdev Laxman Dhasal was born in Mumbai, raised by his mother in poverty. Some of his important literary works are Golpitha (poetry),  Moorkh Mhataryane (poetry),  Negative Space (novel) and  Hadki Hadawala (novel). Dhasal received the Nehru award for Golapitha.  He has been awarded with three Maharashtra State awards for his collections of poems. He was honoured by Government of India with Padamshree (1999) and by the Sahitya Akademi with Golden Jubilee Life Time Achievement Award (2004).

Hemant Divate (b.1967) --- Hemant Divate is Vice President of a reputed marketing firm in the field of advertising. He has been bringing out Abhidha Nantar, a quarterly devoted to Marathi poetry. His published work is Chautishi Paryentchya Kavita (Prabhat Prakashan, Mumbai, 2001), a collection of poems. Dilip Chitre translated it into English and it is available under the title Virus Alert. Hemant has received Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad's Yuva Sahitya Puraskar,  Ashirwad Puraskar and Vishakha Puraskar.

Hemant Joglekar --- Hemant Joglekar is a noted poet of contemporary Marathi poetry. He participated in Kavibharati - 2, the second Triennial of Indian poetry, organised by Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal (October, 1990).