G.P. Deshpande taught Chinese Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, for thirty-five years. Apart from academic writings on China and international politics, he ran a regular column in the Economic and Political Weekly for about three decades. He is a prolific writer in Marathi, having published ten plays, two volumes of social and literary criticism, and one collection of poems. He has received the Maharashtra State Government award for playwriting on three occasions, and is also a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi award. His publications in English include Talking the Political Culturally and Other Essays (2009), Dialectics of Defeat: Problems of Culture in Post-Colonial India (2006) and Political Plays (1998). He is the editor of The Selected Writings of Jotirao Phule (2002).
