TAGORE LITERARY AWARDS

TAGORE LITERARY AWARDS

The Tagore Literary Awards-2011 was presented today to six Indian writers at a function here by Union minister for Corporate Affairs M Veerappa Moily. The awards were in recognition of the excellence in the regional languages. Literary works in English, Malayalam, Konkani, Maithili, Manipuri, Nepali and Sindhi were considered for the award this year.
Amitav Ghosh's novel 'Sea of Poppies' was selected in the English language, but he was not present. The other winners who received their award today are poet Akkitham Achuthan Nambudiri for his Malayalam poem 'Anthimahakaalam', Sheela Kolambkar for her short story 'Geera' in Konkani language, Jagdish Prasad Mandal for his short story in Maithili 'Gaamak Jingi', N Kunjamohan Singh for his short story in Manipuri 'Eina Kenge Kenba Natte', Indramani Damal for Nepali play 'Krishna Krishna' and Arjan Hasid for his Sindhi Poetry 'Na Ien Na (No, No, Not). The award carries a trophy and cash prize.
Speaking at the function, Moily said Tagore symbolised the Indian holistic culture and was a poet all Indians should be proud of. "Gurudev has given us lot of ideas and it should ignite the minds of all Indians", he said. Instituted by Samsung India and the Sahitiya Akademi in 2009 to encourage Indian language literature, the award felicitates writers in Indian languages every year.
The winners are adjudged by a jury panel selected by the Sahitiya Akademi.
Eminent writers O N V Kurup and M P Veerendra Kumar, B D Park, Samsung President and CEO South West Asia were among those who spoke. Sahitiya Akademi secretary, A K Murthy, said the awards has been greatly appreciated by the literary fraternity in India.

Prof. John Kurakar