Well-known Kannada writer C N Ramachandran is among this year’s winners of the Sahitya Akademi awards.
Eight books of poetry, four essays, three novels, two short stories, two travelogues, an autobiography, a memoir and a play have been chosen for the award this year.
Ramachandran has bagged the award for Akhyana-Vyakhyana, a compilation of his analytical essays on topics ranging from the epics like the Bhagavadgita to the Bhakti movement. It was published in 2011.
Bollywood lyricist-scriptwriter Javed Akhtar, Hindi novelist Mridula Garg and renowned Bengali poet Subodh Sarkar are among the others who have bagged the award, K Sreenivasarao, secretary of the Sahitya Akademi, said.
The awards are recommended by distinguished jury members, representing 22 Indian languages and approved by the Executive Board of the Akademi, which met under Sahitya Akademi president Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari.
The award, a literary honour conferred on writers for their outstanding works in the field of literature, is scheduled to be presented in New Delhi on March 11 during the Akademi’s annual Festival of Letters.
In his reaction to being chosen for the award, Ramachandran said that he was shocked, shy and grateful all at once.
CNR, as he is popularly called, was born at Chilkunda in Mysore district in 1936. He got his BA (Honours) and MA from Mysore University. He was awarded a PhD by Miami University in the US.