Appreciating literature

Sahitya Akademi is India’s National Academy of Letters and is dedicate to promoting literature in various Indian languages. Under the chairmanship of its President, Prof. Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari, a selection of 24 books for the Yuva Puraskar and 21 writers for the Bal Sahitya Puraskar has been approved. 

All these selections were made by a jury comprising of three members in the concerned language, according to the rules and procedures. All the awardees will receive an award in the form of a casket with a cheque of Rs. 50,000 in an event to be held on November 14. The Yuva Puraskar relates to books published by authors aged 35 years or below on January 1 of the year. 

The Bal Sahitya Award, for the first ten years had been given to an authors who have contribution to children’s literature. Books which are either translated or compiled are not eligible for the award. 

‘Aparanha Downtown’ by Raka Das Gupta (Bengali), ‘Dark Horse- Ek Ankahi Dasta’ by Nilotpal Mrinal (Hindi), ‘Sulus’ by Anwesha Arun Singbal (Konkani), ‘Farthest Field- An Indian story of the Second World War’ by Raghu Karnad (English) are a few of the Yuva award winners. The list of awardees of the Bal Sahitya Award includes ‘His Share of Sky’ by Rashmi Narzary (English), ‘Mataki Mataka Matkaina’ by Late Droan Vir Kohli.