24 poets and authors 2018 Sahitya Akademi Award
India’s national academy of letters Sahitya Academy has announced names of 24 poets and authors who will be conferred the prestigious 2018 Sahitya Akademi Award in 24 different Indian languages. The award has recognised premier works in 24 Indian languages that includes seven books of poetry, six novels, six short stories, three of literary criticism and two of essays.
The awards will be presented at a roadshow function to be held on 29th January next year at New Delhi duringFestival of Letters to be organised by Sahitya Akademi. The awardees were recommended by distinguished jury members representing 24 languages and were approved by Executive Board under chairmanship of Dr. Chandrashekhar Kambar who is President of Sahitya Akademi.
Awardees are
Poetry: Sananta Tanti (Assamese), Paresh Narendra Kamat (Konkani), S Ramesan Nair (Malayalam) and Dr Rama Kant Shukla (Sanskrit), Dr. Mohanjit (Punjabi), Dr. Rajesh Kumar Vyas (Rajasthani) and Khiman U Mulani (Sindhi).
Short stories: Sanjib Chattopadhyay (Bengali), Mushtaq Ahmed Mushtaq (Kashmiri), Prof Bina Thakur (Maithili), Rituraj Basumatary (Bodo), Prof. Budhichandra Heisnamba (Manipuri) and Nath Upadhyay Chapagain (Nepali).
Novel: Inderjeet Kesar (Dogri), Anees Salim (English), Chitra Mudgal (Hindi), Shyam Besra (Santali), Ramkrishnan (Tamil) and Rahman Abbas (Urdu).
Literary Criticism: KG Nagarajappa (Kannada), Ma. Su. Patil (Marathi) and Prof. Dasarathi Das (Odia).
Essays: Prof. Sharifa Vijliwala (Gujarati) and Dr. Kolakaluri Enoch (Telugu).
Bhasha Salman 2017 and 2018
Sahitya Akademi also announced its Bhasha Salman for year 2017 and 2018. Yogendra Nath Sharma was awarded for North zone; Gagendra Nath Das for Eastern zone; G Venkatasubbiah for South zone; and Shailaja Bapat for Western zone.
Sahitya Akademi Awards
It is literary honour that is conferred annually on Indian writers for their outstanding works of literary merit. It was established in 1954. It is conferred annually on writers of outstanding works in one of the twenty-four major Indian languages (22 Scheduled Languages+ English and Rajasthani). The award consists of a casket containing an engraved copper-plaque (designed by film-maker Satyajit Ray), a shawl and cheque of Rs.1 Lakh.
