Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar (27 February 1912 – 10 March 1999), popularly known by his pen name, Kusumāgraj, was a Marathi poet, playwright, novelist and short story writer, who wrote of freedom, justice and emancipation of the deprived.

[6] Kusumagraj was born into a Deshastha Brahmin family [7] on 27 February 1912 in Pune as Gajanan Ranganath Shirwadkar.

[12] In 1932, at the age of 20, Shirwadkar participated in a satyagraha to support the demand for allowing the entry of the untouchables in the Kalaram Temple at Nashik.

[9] In 1933, Shirwadkar established the Dhruv Mandal (ध्रुव मंडळ ) and started writing in a newspaper called Nava Manu (नवा मनू).

[9] In 1934, Shirwadkar obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Marathi and English languages, from the H. P. T. College in Nashik.

1942 was a turning point in the career of Kusumagraj, as the father-figure of Marathi literature, Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar, published Kusumgraj's compilation of poetry, Vishakha (विशाखा) at his own expense, and in his preface describing Kusumagraj as a poet of humanity, wrote, "His words manifest the social discontent but retain the optimistic conviction that the old world was giving way to a new one.

"[15] Its publication coincided with the Quit India Movement, and carried the message of freedom and stood against slavery, and soon its words became popular with young men and women; in time it was to become his lasting legacy to Indian literature.

This continued into the 1970s when his masterpiece Natsamrat, styled after Shakespeare's play King Lear, was first staged in 1970, with Sriram Lagoo as the lead.

[9] While temperamentally he ranged from reclusive to exclusive, he had a keen social sense and championed the cause of the downtrodden without involving himself in ground level activities.