Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri won the 55th Jnanpith Award

The prestigious 55th Jnanpith Award has been won by the 92-year-old Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri, a noted Indian poet-writer in the Malayalam language.

He has won several literary accolades, some of his notable awards include the Padma Shri award in 2017, Sahitya Akademi Award in 1973. To date, he has published 45 books comprising of a collection of poems, plays and short stories.

The Jnanpith Award is an Indian literature award for individual authors writing in any of the twenty-three eligible Indian languages as per the eighth schedule of the Constitution of India and making a significant contribution in the field of literature. The award has been presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith since 1961.

To date, out of 23 eligible languages, the Jnanpith award has been awarded to individuals for there work in sixteen languages.

The first winner of the prestigious Jnanpith award in 1965 was G.Sankara Kurup for his collection of poems published in 1950 named Odakkuzhal.