N.S. Gundur is a literary historian whose work explores Kannada literary cultures, intellectual history, and the institutional foundations of literature. Raised in an agricultural family in North Karnataka, he pursued his higher education at Karnatak University, Dharwad, before beginning his teaching career at the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, Pune. He is currently Professor of English at Tumkur University. A bilingual scholar, Gundur writes extensively in English and Kannada for academic journals and leading publications, including The Economic and Political Weekly, The Hindu, The Indian Express, The Wire, Atlantis, and Prajavani. He has translated Michel Foucault into Kannada and authored Vartamanada Itihasakara: A Critical Introduction to Michel Foucault (2017). A recipient of the NIF Translation Fellowship (2022), his English translation of D.R. Nagaraj's Allama Prabhu and Śaiva Imagination, published by Permanent Black and SUNY Press, has earned international acclaim. Distinguished scholar Sheldon Pollock has hailed it as "a remarkable contribution to literary and historical scholarship.