Saroop Dhruv, playwright and poet from Gujarat has received the 2008 Hellman/Hammett Award for courageous writing by Human Rights Watch, USA. She was recognised for resisting censorship by the state governments in Gujarat for her plays and her work with victims of communal and other violence and the socially disadvantaged. Human Rights Watch distributes funds from American playwright Lillian Hellman’s estate to writers of fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

Saroop Dhruv was one of the participants of at the Gujarati workshop ‘Don’t Disturb the Beehive’ at Valsad, Gujarat in February, 2000 as well a participant at the National Colloquium held in 2007. After the Gujarat genocide of February 2002, she and her comrades brought the victims relief supplies and comfort, and worked tirelessly to record and register cases.  Her street play Dilma Chhe Ek Ash, an affirmation of hope, was staged for Aman Samudaya in relief camps where audiences responded with lamentation, anger and terror as they relived their experience, but appreciated the fact that somebody cared and understood.