PTI
New Delhi, Dec 24: Seven novelists are among the 21 litterateurs who were on Tuesday chosen for the National Sahitya Akademi awards for this year.
Six poets, five short story writers and three critics were also selected for the coveted award, carrying a cash prize of Rs. 50,000 and an engraved copper plaque, which will be given away at a special function on February 17 next year.
K.P. Appan, a well-known critic who died earlier this month, won the award for his collection of essays in Malayalam, ‘Madhuram Ninte Jeevitham.’
Another prominent winner is Hindi novelist Govind Mishra, who got the award for his novel, ‘Kohre Mein Kaid Rang.’
“The academy is not giving the award for English as no book was found eligible for the honour, while award for Maithili and Telugu will be announced later,” M.H. Venkateswaran, Officer on Special Duty in the Sahitya Akademi , told PTI.
The novelists who were selected for the award are: Rita Choudhury (Assamese), Vidya Sagar Narzary (Bodo), Srinivas B. Vaidya (Kannada), Ashok Kamat (Konkani), Shyam Manohar (Marathi) and Mitter Sain Meet (Punjabi).
Sarat Kumar Mukhopadhyay (Bengali), Champa Sharma (Dogri), A.O. Memchoubi (Manipuri), Pramod Kumar Mohanty (Oriya), Om Prakash Pande (Sanskrit) and Jayant Parmer (Urdu) were the poets selected for the award.
Among short story writers, Suman Shah (Gujarati), Shri ‘Kirat’ (Nepali), Dinesh Panchal (Rajasthani), Badal Hembam (Santhali) and Melanmai Ponnusamy (Tamil) were the winners.
Kashmiri writer Nabi Aatash and Sindhi writer Hiro Shewkani, both critics, also won the award.