The Raja Rao Award, in some sources the Raja Rao Award for Literature,L. Macedo, "Dabydeen, David", ''The Encyclopedia of Twentieth‐Century Fiction'', Brian Shaffer, editor, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, p. 1035.Eric Martone, ''Encyclopedia of Blacks in European History and Culture'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008, p. 172. is a former

literary award A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award ceremony. Ma ...

named in honour of famed expatriate Indian writer Raja Rao, and bestowed "to recognize writers and scholars who have made an outstanding contribution to the Literature and Culture of the South Asian Diaspora."Deborah Weagel, "Language, Diaspora, and Identity: An Interview with Yasmine Gooneratne", ''South Asian Review'', 2008, 29. 269-279. 10.1080/02759527.2008.11932589.

Makarand Paranjape Makarand R. Paranjape (born 31 August 1960) is an Indian novelist, poet, the Director at Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla and, since 1999, a Professor of English in the Centre for English Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru Univer ...

, ''Science and Spirituality in Modern India'', Centre for Indic Studies, University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, 2006, page xiii. It has been described as "prestigious","Preserving a culture under attack," ''

The Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The newsp ...

'', Ottawa, Canada, 4 Oct. 2003, P. C3.Pamela McCallum, "In Memoriam: Victor J. Ramraj", ''Ariel''; Calgary Vol. 45, Iss. 3, (July 2014): 1-2. DOI:10.1353/ari.2014.0020. and "an important Indian literary prize". It was bestowed by a jury upon seven recipients between its establishment in 2000 and its cessation in 2009. The award was given annually from 2000 to 2004, after which it was given biennially, with one award being given for 2005-2006, and one being given for 2007-2008.

Establishment and course

The award was instituted by the Samvad India Foundation,"Professional Notes: The Raja Rao Award"
''World Englishes''
Vol. 20, No. 1
( Wiley-Blackwell 2001), pp. 117-118. a nonprofit charitable trust named for the Sanskrit word for dialogue, which was co-founded by

, a professor of English at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi and Vijay Mishra, a professor of English and Comparative Literature at

Murdoch University Murdoch University is a public university in Perth, Western Australia, with campuses also in Singapore and Dubai. It began operations as the state's second university on 25 July 1973, and accepted its first undergraduate students in 1975. Its n ...

in Perth. Its purpose was to honour writers of Indian origin settled abroad, mainly those in South-East Asia, and to promote education and cultural contributions to India and the South Asian diaspora.David C. L. Lim, ''The Infinite Longing for Home: Desire and the Nation in Selected Writings of Ben Okri and K.S. Maniam'', Rodopi, 2005, page xxiii. It was named for Raja Rao, with his permission; Rao having been born in Mysore, Karnataka, India, and eventually moved first to France, and then to live for many decades in the United States. There is no cash prize attached to the award. The inaugural recipient of the Award was K. S. Maniam, who was bestowed the award in 2000. One literary journal reported that "the 2000 Raja Rao Award that Maniam received in New Delhi was a definite boost to his international acclaim as a writer." The second winner was

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 ...

, whose international scholarship was described as being recognized with "

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of S ...

's first higher doctoral degree (D.Litt.), the Order of Australia, and the Samvad India Foundation's Raja Rao Award which acknowledges authors who deal with the South Asian Diaspora in their literary work." The ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' of

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

wrote of Gooneratne: Of the third recipient, Edwin Thumboo, who had previously been a juror for the award, the ''

Pune Mirror ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest se ...

'' wrote: Of the fifth winner, David Dabydeen, ''The Encyclopedia of Twentieth‐Century Fiction'' noted that he was the “winner of many awards including the 2004 Raja Rao Award for Literature and the 2008 Anthony N. Sabga Award for Literature -- the largest literary prize in the Caribbean.” Likewise, another source wrote: Meenakshi Mukherjee glass in hand

The Memoriam of Victor Ramraj, who served as a juror for the awarding of the honor, lauded his participation in committees “too numerous to mention individually”, but noted that “some of the most prestigious were his presidency of the Canadian Association for Commonwealth Language and Literature Studies (1992-95), his membership on the Commonwealth Literature Prize committee (1999-2001) and the Raja Rao Award for Literature of the South Asian Diaspora jury (2004)”. Meenakshi Mukherjee, chair of the last awarding jury, died in 2009, and the award was discontinued that same year. , it has not since been bestowed, and has been described as "discontinued". The last recipient of the award, Vijay Mishra, had also previously been a member of the board of advisors for the award.

Recipients

The seven recipients were:

Jurors

The award was bestowed by a three-member jury of "scholars of international standing". Those who served as jurors for selection of the recipient included: * Meenakshi Mukherjee (Chair) * Braj Kachru *

Victor Ramraj The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

* Edwin Thumboo In addition, an International Advisory Board was assembled, generally including some members of the jury as well as other scholars, with the initial board also including Ritu Menon, Malashri Lal,

Alastair Niven Alastair Neil Robertson Niven Hon FRSL (born 25 February 1944) is an English literary scholar and author. He has written books on D. H. Lawrence, Raja Rao, and Mulk Raj Anand, and has been Director General of The Africa Centre, Director of ...

, and Vijay Mishra.

References

External links

Raja Rao Award
page
Samvad India FoundationBreathing India In America: A Tribute to Raja Rao
by Francis C. Assisi {{Raja Rao Award Indian literary awards Awards established in 2000 Awards disestablished in 2009