Kolatkar was born in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, where his father Tatya Kolatkar was an officer in the Education department. He lived in a traditional patriarchal Hindu extended family, along with his uncle's family. He has described their nine-room house as "a house of cards. Five in a row on the ground, topped by three on the first, and one on the second floor.".The floors had to be "plastered with cowdung every week".He attended Rajaram High School in Kolhapur, where Marathi was the medium of instruction. Books by Arun Kolatkar The Boatride And Other Poems Collected Poems In English