Sahitya Akademi Award

Marathi writer Nanda Khare refused to accept the Sahitya Akademi award for his novel “Udya”, published in 2014.

Key Points
  • About Sahitya Akademi Award:
    • Sahitya Akademi award established in 1954, is a literary honour that is conferred annually by Sahitya Akademi, India’s National Academy of letters 
    • Akademi gives 24 awards annually to literary works in the languages it has recognized and an equal number of awards to literary translations from and into the languages of india 
      • Besides the 22 languages enumerated in the Constitution of India, the Sahitya Akademi has recognised English and Rajasthani as languages in which its programme may be implemented
    • The Sahitya Akademi award is the second-highest literary honour by the Government of India, after the Jnanpith award 
Criteria for Choosing Awardee:
  • The author must be of Indian nationality
  • Book/work eligible for the award must be an outstanding contribution to the language and literature to which it beong 
  • When equal merit for books of two or more are found, certain criteria like total literary contribution and standing of authors shall be taken into consideration for declaring award 
About the Marathi Novel ‘Udya’:
  • It is a futuristic account of the possible scenarios emerging as consequences of the current capitalistic and machine-driven human life 
  • It nuances how humans have been enslaved by machines, particularly by the ones that are susceptible to surveillance of one’s personal life 
Jnanpith Award
  • The Jnanpith award is the highest literary award in India and can only be conferred annually upon an India
  • English along with other languages mentioned in Indian Constitution (8th Schedule) is considered for the award 
  • The prize carries a cash award of 11 lakhs, a citation, and a bronze replica of Vagdevi (Saraswati), the goddess of learning.
  • It is sponsored by the cultural organization Bharatiya jnanpith
  • For 2018, author Amitav Ghosh became the first English language writer to become a Jnanpith
  • Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri in Malayalam language is the latest recipient of the award for the year 2019
Other Sahitya Akademi Awards
  • Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puraskar is given to an author based on his/her total contribution to children literature and relates to books first published during the five years immediately preceding the year of award
  • Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar relates to books published by an author of the age of 35 and below
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