Although we categorise it as the Marathi language, there are several dialects in Maharashtra and the literature is composed in all of them.
The oldest known work in Marathi is from the 13th century by Saint Jnaneshwar (also known as Gyaneshwar). He is credited to begin the kirtan in Maharashtra and has written a detailed commentary on the Bhagavata Gita in Marathi. Apart from him, several saints like Namdev, Sena and Gora were popular from the same period. The oldest known female writer is Janabai.
But the most famous saint from Maharashtra from the sixteenth century was Eknath who wrote commentaries on Bhagwata Purana and Ramayana and as he also composed works in the vernacular language. He became very popular with the masses that still sing his songs. Tukaram and Ramdas are the other notable Bhakti poets.
The nationalist movement affected Marathi poetry and prose writing too. One of our greatest nationalistic figures, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, published his regional newspaper Kesari in Marathi. This paper criticised the British and their policies and published tracts by leading revolutionaries of that time. Marathi prose writing took a turn for the better with the works of Hari Narayan Apte, V.S. Chiplunkar and Keshav Sut. Contemporary lots of Marathi poets include M.G Ranade, G.T. Madholkar and K.T Telang.