Chandrashekhara Basavanneppa Kambara (born 2 January 1937) is a prominent Indian poet, playwright, folklorist, film director in Kannada language and the founder-vice-chancellor of Kannada University in Hampi also president of the Sahitya Akademi, country's premier literary institution, after Vinayak Krishna Gokak (1983) and U.R.

[2] He is known for effective adaptation of the North Karnataka dialect of the Kannada language in his plays, and poems, in a similar style as in the works of D.R.

[3] Kambara's plays mainly revolve around folk or mythology interlinked with contemporary issues,[4] inculcating modern lifestyle with his hard-hitting poems.

[11] Chandrashekhara Kambara was born in kannada-speaking family in Ghodageri, a village in Belgaum district of Bombay Presidency (today in Karnataka).

[12] Popularly known as Shivapur Kambar Master in his native district, Kambara had his schooling in Gokak and returned to Belagavi for higher education at Lingaraj College.

He served as the chairman of National School of Drama Society, New Delhi from 1996 to 2000 and as the president of Karnataka Nataka Academy from 1980 to 1983.

The architecture, the choice of the subjects that cover the diverse variety of culture and society of Karnataka, selection of place, faculty or academic activities, the scholars whom he drafted from different parts of the state and the Nadoja honorary award instead of the honorary doctorate which he introduced, show Kambara's native vision which was evolved in his literary works for decades.

"[17] Kambara has to his credit 25 plays, 11 anthologies of poems, 5 novels, 16 research works and several scholarly write-ups on folk theatre, literature and education.

[1] Some of his popular plays include "Jokumaraswamy", "Jayasidnayaka", "Kadu Kudure", "Nayi Kathe", "Mahamayi", "Harakeya Kuri" and others.

[18] He was a pioneer in introducing Bailahongal's famous Sangya Balya (bayalata) and Jokumaraswamy, a traditional ritual of his native district, to the literary world[1] which have seen thousands of performances, not only in Kannada, but several other Indian languages as well.

His novel "Singarevva Mattu Aramane" translated as Kulothe Chingaramma, to Malayalam by C Raghavan, is one of his works that has become popular in Kerala.

In his lengthy narrative poem Helatena Kela ("Listen, I will tell you") in the early 1960s, Kambara introduced some of the recurring themes which he would often return to in his later works.

[27] Kambara received the eighth Jnanpith Award for the Kannada language, the highest literary honour conferred in India, in September 2011 for the year 2010.

[30] His contribution to Kannada literature in the field of poetry, plays, novels and stories, and on his research and political perceptions are listed below.