BW2: Sahitya Akademi - India's National Academy of Letters

Since I'm experiencing 1950's India through Vikram Seth's eyes, decided to do a bit more exploring and found Sahitya Akademi which is India's National Academy of Letters. The academy was established to promote Indian Literature.   They issue awards to authors of books written in 22 Indian languages, including English.  Seth won the English Award in 1988 for his novel The Golden Gate and Arundhati Roy won in 2005 for her novel The Algebra of Infinite Justice, which she declined to accept.

Every February, Sahitya Akademi holds a week long Festival of Letters where they present  awards for creative writing,and  hold literary seminars and lectures by distinguished writers.  Throughout the year, they hold seminars and author readings as well as workshops for translators to gather, discuss and hone translations. If you are curious, check out their multi part you-tube videos of talks during 2015 Festival.  Besides the Sahitya award, they also have the Sahitya Prize for Translation,  Bhasha Samman for outstanding translations, the Bal Sahitya Puraskar for books published in the past five year and Yuva Puraskar for writers under 35.

Recent winners in each language category 

• Assamese:  Akashar Chhabi Aru Anyanya Galpa (Short Stories) - Kula Saikia
• Bengali:  Piya Mana Bhabe (Poetry) - Utpal Kumar Basu
• Bodo:  Baidi Dengkhw Baidi Gab (Poetry) - Brajendra Kumar Brahma
• Dogri:  Parchhamen Di Lo (Poetry) - Dhian Singh
• English:  Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer (Novel) - Cyrus Mistry
• Gujarati: Antey Aarambh (Part-I & II)(Essays) -  Rasik Shah
• Hindi:  Aag Ki Hansi (Poetry) - Ramdarash Mishra
• Kannada:   Akshaya Kavya (Poetry) - K.V. Tirumalesh
• Kashmiri:  Jamis Ta Kasheeri Manz Kashir Natia Adabuk Tawareekh (Criticism) - Bashir Bhadarwahi
• Konkani:  Karna Parva (Play) -  Uday Bhembre
• Maithili: Khissa (Short Stories) - Man Mohan Jha
• Mayalam:  Aarachar (Novel) -  K.R. Meera
• Manipuri:  Ahingna Yekshilliba Mang (Poetry) -  Kshetri Rajen
• Marathi:  Chalat-Chitravyooh (Memoirs) - Arun Khopkar
• Nepali:  Samayaka Prativimbaharu (Short Stories) - Gupta Pradhan
• Odia:  Mahishasurara Muhan (Short Stories) -  Bibhuti Pattanaik
• Punjabi: Maat Lok (Novel) - Jaswinder Singh
• Rajasthani:  Gawaad (Novel) -  Madhu Acharya 'Ashawadi'
• Sanskrit:  Vanadevi (Epic) - Ram Shankar Awasthi
• Santhali:  Parsi Khatir (Play) - Rabilal Tudu
• Sindhi:  Mahengi Murk (Short Stories) - Maya Rahi
• Tamil:  Ilakkiya Suvadugal (Essays) - A. Madhavan
• Telugu: Vimuktha (Short Stories) - Volga
• Urdu:  Tasawwuf Aur Bhakti (Tanqeedi Aur Taqabuli Mutalea) (Criticism) - Shamim Tariq

In addition to publishing individual works and anthologies, the Akademi also publishes biographies, critical editions and the National Bibliography of Indian Literature.  Check out the link here to see the full lists and have fun exploring

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