The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...

, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the 8th Schedule to the Indian constitution as well as in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

Rajasthani language Rajasthani (Devanagari: ) refers to a group of Indo-Aryan languages and dialects spoken primarily in the state of Rajasthan and adjacent areas of Haryana, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh in India. There are also speakers in the Pakistani provinces ...

. Established in 1954, the award comprises a plaque and a cash prize of ₹ 1,00,000. The award's purpose is to recognise and promote excellence in Indian writing and also acknowledge new trends. The annual process of selecting awardees runs for the preceding twelve months. The plaque awarded by the Sahitya Akademi was designed by the Indian film-maker

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...

. Prior to this, the plaque occasionally was made of marble, but this practice was discontinued because of the excessive weight. During the

Indo-Pakistan War of 1965 The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 or the Second Kashmir War was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. The conflict began following Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar, which was d ...

, the plaque was substituted with national savings bonds.

Recipients

Other literary honors

Sahitya Akademi Fellowships

They form the highest honor which the Akademi confers through a system of electing Fellows and Honorary Fellows. (Sahitya Akademi Award is the second-highest literary honor next to a Sahitya Akademi Fellowship).

Bhasha Samman

Sahitya Akademy gives these special awards to writers for significant contribution to Indian languages other than the above 24 major ones and also for contributions to classical and medieval literature. Like the Sahitya Akademi Awards, Bhasha Samman too comprise a plaque and a cash prize of Rs. 1,00,000 (from 2009). The Sahitya Akademi instituted the Bhasha Samman in 1996 to be given to writers, scholars, editors, collectors, performers or translators who have made considerable contribution to the propagation, modernization or enrichment of the languages concerned. The Samman carries a plaque along with an amount equal to its awards for creative literature i.e. rupees 1,00,000. It was Rs.25,000 at the time of inception, increased to Rs.40,000 from 2001, Rs.50,000 from 2003 and to Rs. 1,00,000 from 2009. The Sammans are given to 3-4 persons every year in different languages on the basis of recommendation of experts' committees constituted for the purpose. The first Bhasha Sammans were awarded in to Dharikshan Mishra for

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri (;Bhojpuri entry, Oxford Dictionaries
, Oxford U ...

, Bansi Ram Sharma and M.R. Thakur for Pahari (Himachali), K. Jathappa Rai and Mandara Keshava Bhat for

Tulu Tulu may refer to: People *Derartu Tulu (born 1972), Ethiopian long-distance runner *Walid Yacoubou (born 1997), Togolese footballer nicknamed "Tulu" India *Tulu calendar, traditional solar calendar generally used in the regions of southwest Kar ...

and Chandra Kanta Mura Singh for

Kokborok Kokborok (also known as Tripuri or Tiprakok) is the main native language of the Tripuri people of the Indian state of Tripura and neighbouring areas of Bangladesh. Its name comes from ''kok'' meaning "verbal" and ''borok'' meaning "people" or ...

, for their contribution to the development of their respective languages.

Sahitya Akademi Prize for Translation

Awards for translations were instituted in 1989 at the insistence of then-Prime Minister of India,

P. V. Narasimha Rao Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao (28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004) was an Indian lawyer, statesman and politician who served as the 9th prime minister of India from 1991 to 1996. He is known for introducing various liberal reforms to Indi ...

. The Sahitya Akademi annually gives these awards for outstanding translations of major works in other languages into one of the 24 major Indian languages. The awards comprise a plaque and a cash prize of Rs. 50,000. The initial proposal for translation prizes contained provisions for a prize for translations into each of the twenty-two languages recognised by the Akademi; however, this was soon found to be unviable for several reasons: the Akademi found that there were insufficient entries in all the languages, and there were difficulties in locating experts knowledgeable in both, the language of translation and the original language, to judge the translations. Consequently, the Board decided to dispense with its original requirement for additional expert committees to evaluate the translations, and also ruled that it was not obligated to grant prizes in languages where suitable books were not nominated. The Akademi also requires that both, the original author as well as the translator, are to be Indian nationals. Over time, the Akademi has modified and expanded the conditions for the Translation Prizes. In 1992, the Akademi began to allow translations made in link languages to be eligible for the Awards, although it noted that translations made directly from the original language would always be preferred. In 1995, the Akademi also held that joint translations would be eligible, and in 1997, it dispensed with the process of advertising for nominations and replaced it with invitations for recommendations from advisory boards and Committee members. As of 2002, 264 prizes have been awarded to 266 translators.

Yuva Puraskar

Golden Jubilee Awards

On the occasion of its Golden Jubilee,

awarded the following prizes for outstanding works of poetry in translation from Indian languages. * Rana Nayar for his translation of the verses of the Sikh saint

Baba Farid Farīd al-Dīn Masʿūd Ganj-i-Shakar ( ; – 7 May 1266) was a 13th-century Punjabi Sunni Muslim preacher and mystic, who was one of the most revered and distinguished Muslim mystics of the medieval period. He is known reverentially as B� ...

from Punjabi. *

Tapan Kumar Pradhan Tapan Kumar Pradhan (born 1972) is an Indian poet, writer and translator from Odisha. He is best known for his poem collection "Kalahandi" which was awarded second place in Sahitya Akademi's Golden Jubilee ''Indian Literature'' Translation Prize ...

for English translation of his own

Odia Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to: * Odia people in Odisha, India * Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family * Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...

poem collection

Kalahandi Kalahandi (locally pronounced ''Kalahani'') is a district of Odisha in India. Archaeological evidence of Stone Age and Iron Age human settlement has been recovered from the region. Asurgarh offered an advanced, well civilised, cultured and ur ...

* Paromita Das for English translation of

Parvati Prasad Baruwa Parvati Prasad Baruva (1904–1964) was a noted poet, lyricist, and dramatist: an icon of Assamese literature and the culture of Assam. Known for his simple and sensitive use of the Assamese language, he is popularly known as the ''Geetikavi''; ...

's poems in Assamese. The Golden Jubilee Prizes for Life Time Achievement and young achievers were awarded to

Namdeo Dhasal Namdeo Laxman Dhasal (15 February 1949 – 15 January 2014) was a Marathi poet, writer and Dalit activist from Maharashtra, India. He was one of the founders of the Dalit Panthers in 1972, a social movement aimed at destroying caste hierarchy ...

Ranjit Hoskote Ranjit Hoskote (born 1969) is an Indian poet, art critic, cultural theorist and independent curator. He has been honoured by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, with the Sahitya Akademi Golden Jubilee Award and the Sahitya ...

Mandakranta Sen Mandakranta Sen (born 1972) is an Indian poet of Bengali language. She became the youngest ever winner of Ananda Puraskar in 1999 for her very first poetry book. In 2004, she was awarded Sahitya Akademi Golden Jubilee Award for poetry. She is al ...

, Abdul Rasheed,

Sithara S. Sithara S. (born 1972) is an Indian feminist writer in Malayalam from Kerala. In her short stories and novels she has highlighted women's issues, gender conflict and lesbian rights. In 2004 she won Sahitya Akademi Golden Jubilee Award for her c ...

and

Neelakshi Singh Neelakshi Singh (born 17 March 1978 is a contemporary Hindi author. In 2004 she won Sahitya Academy Golden Jubilee Award, Kalinga Book of the year award 2021 & Valley of Words Award 2022. Personal life Neelakshi Singh was born at Hajipur in ...

Ananda Coomarswamy Fellowships

Named after the

Ceylon Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Pr ...

writer

Ananda Coomaraswamy Ananda Kentish Muthu Coomaraswamy ( ta, ஆனந்த குமாரசுவாமி, ''Ānanda Kentiś Muthū Kumāraswāmī''; si, ආනන්ද කුමාරස්වාමි ''Ānanda Kumārasvāmī''; 22 August 1877 − 9 Septem ...

, the fellowship was started in 1996. It is given to scholars from Asian countries to spend three to twelve months in India to pursue a literary project.

Premchand Fellowships

Named after

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Premchand Dhanpat Rai Srivastava (31 July 1880 – 8 October 1936), better known by his pen name Premchand (), was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani literature. Premchand was a pioneer of Hindi and Urdu social fiction. He was one of ...

, the fellowship was started in 2005. It is given to persons of eminence in the field of Culture from

SAARC The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of states in South Asia. Its member states are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, ...

countries. Notable awardees include

Intizar Hussain Intizar Hussain ( ur, ; 21 December 1925 – 2 February 2016) was a Pakistani writer of Urdu novels, short stories, poetry and nonfiction. He is widely recognised as a leading literary figure of Pakistan. He was among the finalists of the Man Bo ...

Selina Hossain Selina Hossain (born 14 June 1947) is a Bangladeshi novelist and the current president of Bangla Academy since February 2022. Her major works include ''Hangor Nodi Grenade'' (1976) and ''Poka Makorer Ghor Boshoti'' (1996). She earned all major nat ...

Yasmine Gooneratne Yasmine Gooneratne (born 1935) is a Sri Lankan poet, short story writer, university professor and essayist. She is recognised in Sri Lanka, Australia and throughout Europe and the U.S.A., due to her substantial creative and critical publications ...

Jean Arasanayagam Jean Arasanayagam (born Jean Solomons; 2 December 1931 – 30 July 2019) was a Sri Lankan poet and fiction writer. Although she wrote her books in English, they have been translated into German, French, Danish, Swedish and Japanese. Her husband ...

and

Kishwar Naheed Kishwar Naheed ( ur, ) (born 1940) is a feminist Urdu poet and a writer from Pakistan. She has written several poetry books. She has also received awards including Sitara-e-Imtiaz for her literary contribution towards Urdu literature. Early l ...

Returns and Declines of Sahitya Akademi Awards

The Akademi has seen several instances of Awards being returned or declined as an act of protest.

1950s–1980s

In 1973, G.A. Kulkarni returned the Award for his collection of short stories in

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

, ''Kajal Maya,'' because a controversy had arisen regarding the date of publication of the book and its consequent eligibility for the Award. In 1969, Swami Anand declined the Award for contributions to

Gujarati literature The history of Gujarati literature ( gu, ગુજરાતી સાહિત્ય) may be traced to 1000 AD, and this literature has flourished since then to the present. It is unique in having almost no patronage from a ruling dynasty, othe ...

on the grounds that his religious beliefs precluded him from accepting any pecuniary benefits for public services. In 1981, Telugu writer V. R. Narla was given the Sahitya Akademi Award for his play, ''Sita Josyam'', but returned it on the grounds that the Akademi had allowed an adverse review of the play to be published in their journal, ''

Indian Literature Indian literature refers to the literature produced on the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and in the Republic of India thereafter. The Republic of India has 22 officially recognised languages. The earliest works of Indian literature were o ...

.'' In 1982, Deshbandhu Dogra Natan was given the Sahitya Akademi award for his

Dogri Dogri (Name Dogra Akkhar: ; Devanagari: डोगरी; Nastaliq: ; ) is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, India, with smaller groups of speakers in adjoining regions of western Himachal Prade ...

novel, ''Qaidi'' ('Prisoner') but returned it on the grounds that he should have received the Award much earlier. In 1983, Gujarati writer

Suresh Joshi Suresh Hariprasad Joshi ( gu, સુરેશ હરિપ્રસાદ જોષી) was an Indian novelist, short-story writer, literary critic, poet, translator, editor and academic in the Gujarati language. Along with his teaching career, h ...

also returned the Award on the grounds that his book, ''

Chintayami Manasa ''Chintayami Manasa'' ( gu, ચિન્તયામિ મનસા; en, Thinking Deeply), published in 1983, is a critical work of essays in the Gujarati language by Indian writer Suresh Joshi. Joshi evaluated ideas based on European and Ame ...

'', did not, in his opinion, deserve the Award, and also expressed the opinion that the Award was generally granted to authors who were "spent forces". This provoked a response from the then-President of the Akademi,

Vinayaka Krishna Gokak Vinayaka Krishna Gokak (9 August 1909 – 28 April 1992), abbreviated in Kannada as Vi. Kru. Gokak, was an Indian historian and writer in the Kannada language and a scholar of English and Kannada literatures. He was the fifth writer to be hono ...

, who said, concerning the awards that, "It is not possible to generalise on the basis of age. Nor can we expect the Akademi panels to be on the watch for a literary force on the upward curve and catch it at the moment before it starts going downwards. Panels change from year to year and they have to select not literary men but literary works which are adjudged to be the best among the publications of a particular period."

1990s

In 1998,

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

writer

Jayant Kothari Jayant Sukhlal Kothari was a Gujarati literary critic from India. Life Jayant Kothari was born on 28 January 1930 at Rajkot. He completed his primary and secondary education in Rajkot. He matriculated in 1948. He completed BA in Gujarati and ...

also declined the Sahitya Akademi Award on the grounds that he had made a religious vow that precluded his acceptance of any competitive award, prize or position. In 1991, Jagannatha Prasad Das, who was given the Award for his poetry in

declined for 'personal reasons'. In 1996, T. Padmanabhan, who was given the Award for a book of short stories in

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

, declined on the grounds that the Akademi had not shown interest in supporting the short story form, although he noted that he was grateful to the Akademi for the honour.

2000s

, the award has been returned by many writers for various reasons. 38 recipients had announced their returning of the award in protest of the "rising intolerance in India" under the

Modi government The premiership of Narendra Modi began on 26 May 2014 with his swearing-in as the prime minister of India at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He became the 14th Prime Minister of India, succeeding Manmohan Singh of the Indian National Congress. Modi's ...

due to the incidences of murder of author M M Kalburgi and the Dadri lynching incident. Among others, Ajmer Aulakh,

Aman Sethi Aman Sethi (Hindi: अमन सेठी) is an Indian journalist and writer. He is the editor-in-chief of openDemocracy. Sethi was editor-in-chief of HuffPost India until it ceased operations in November, 2020. He is known for his debut ''A Fre ...

, Ganesh Devy, Kum Veerabhadrappa and

Shashi Deshpande Shashi Deshpande (born 1938) is an Indian novelist. She is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Padma Shri Award in 1990 and 2009 respectively. Biography She was born in Dharwad, Karnataka, the second daughter of the Kannada dramati ...

have publicly announced their return of the award. To show their condemnation Deshpande, K Satchidanandan, PK Parakkadvu and Aravind Malagatti have also resigned their posts at the Sahitya Akademi institution. The recipients who announced to return the awards include: Ajmer Singh Aulakh (Punjabi), Ambika Dutt (Hindi), Anil R. Joshi (Gujarati),

Ashok Vajpeyi Ashok Vajpeyi ( hi, अशोक वाजपेयी; born 1941) is an Indian Hindi-language poet, essayist, literary-cultural critic, apart from being a noted cultural and arts administrator, and a former civil servant. He was chairman, Lali ...

(Hindi), Atamjit Singh (Punjabi),

Baldev Singh Sadaknama Baldev Singh (11 December, 1942), also known as Baldev Singh Sadaknaama, is an Indian novelist and story writer in Punjabi-language. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award 2011 for his novel ''Dhahwan Dilli De Kingre''. As of 2012, he has writ ...

(Punjabi),

Bhoopal Reddy M. Bhoopal Reddy (born 1959) is a Telugu language writer and actor. He won the 2011 Kendra Sahitya Akademi Awards for Children's Literature for his work, ''Uggu Paalu'', a compilation of 90 children stories. Early life Bhoopal Reddy was born i ...

(Telugu), Chaman Lal (Hindi),

Darshan Buttar Darshan Buttar (born in Nabha, Punjab, Indian, Punjab, India) is an Indian poet known for his short poems in Punjabi language, Punjabi. His work is a part of the syllabus at the Punjabi University, Patiala. Books * ''Maha Kambani'' (The Ultim ...

(Punjabi), Ganesh Devy (Gujarati/English), Ghulam Nabi Khayal (Kashmiri), GN Ranganatha Rao (Kannada), Gurbachan Singh Bhullar (Punjabi),

Homen Borgohain Homen Borgohain (7 December 1932 – 12 May 2021) was an Assamese author and journalist. He was awarded the 1978 Sahitya Akademi Award in Assamese language for his novel ''Pita Putra''. He was also the President of Asam Sahitya Sabha, Assam S ...

(Assamese) Jaswinder Singh (Punjabi), K. Katyayani Vidhmahe (Telugu),

Kashi Nath Singh Kashinath Singh ( hi, काशीनाथ सिंह, born 1937) is an Indian writer and scholar of Hindi language and known for writing novels and short stories in Hindi. He was formerly a professor of Hindi literature in Banaras Hindu Univ ...

(Hindi),

Keki N. Daruwalla Keki N. Daruwalla (born 24 January 1937Krishna Sobti Krishna Sobti (18 February 1925 – 25 January 2019) was an Indian Hindi-language fiction writer and essayist. She won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1980 for her novel ''Zindaginama'' and in 1996, was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, the ...

(Hindi), Kumbar Veerabhadrappa (Kannada),

(Bengali),

Manglesh Dabral Manglesh Dabral (16 May 19489 December 2020) was an Indian Hindi poet and journalist. He was associated with Hindi-language newspapers including '' Jansatta'', ''Hindi Patriot'', and ''Purvagrah''. Some of his popular works include ''Pahar Par ...

(Hindi),

Marghoob Banihali Ghulam Mohammed Giri (5 March 1937 – 27 April 2021) also known by his pen name Marghoob Banihali was a Kashmiri poet from Bankoot, Banihal, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. Personal life Marghoob los ...

(Kashmiri),

Mohan Bhandari Mohan Bhandari (31 July 1937 – 24 September 2015) was an Indian actor who featured in several popular TV serials such as '' Saat Phere: Saloni Ka Safar''. He died of brain tumor. His son Dhruv Bhandari is also a TV actor. Acting career Moh ...

(Punjabi),

Munawwar Rana Munawwar Rana (born 26 November 1952) is an Indian Urdu poet. Early life Munawwar Rana was born in Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh, India in 1952, but spent most of his life in Kolkata, West Bengal. Poetic style He uses Hindi and Awadhi words an ...

(Urdu), Nand Bhardwaj (Rajasthani),

Nayantara Sahgal Nayantara Sahgal (born 10 May 1927) is an Indian writer who writes in English. She is a member of the Nehru–Gandhi family, the second of the three daughters born to Jawaharlal Nehru's sister, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit. She was awarded the 1986 S ...

(English), Nirupama Borgohain (Assamese),

Rahman Abbas Rahman Abbas (born 30 January 1972) is an Indian people, Indian fiction writer and the recipient of the India's highest literary Award ''Sahitya Akademi Award'' for his fourth novel ''Rohzin'' in 2018. He is also the recipient of the two State A ...

(Urdu), Rahamat Tarikere (Kannada), Rajesh Joshi (Hindi), Sarah Joseph (Malayalam), Srinath DN (Kannada),

Surjit Patar Surjit Patar is a Punjabi language writer and poet of Punjab, India. His poems enjoy immense popularity with the general public and have won high acclaim from critics. Biography Patar hails from village Pattar ( pa, ਪੱਤੜ) Kalan in Jala ...

(Punjabi),

Uday Prakash Uday Prakash (born 1 January 1952) is a Hindi poet, scholar, journalist, translator and short story writer from India. He has worked as administrator, editor, researcher, and TV director. He writes for major dailies and periodicals as a freelance ...

(Hindi), and

Waryam Singh Sandhu Waryam Singh Sandhu (born 10 September 1945) is an Indian author of short stories. In 2000, he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for his short story collection ''Chauthi koot''. Although he writes in Punjabi language, Punjabi, his works h ...

(Punjabi).

References

External links

Sahitya Akademi Awards Winners List 2019

Complete List of Sahitya Akademi Awards Winners
* * {{India Honours and Decorations Indian literary awards Awards established in 1954 Bal Sahitya Puraskar 1954 establishments in India Literary awards by language