Central Sahitya Akademi award for Nataraj Budalu, Srinath Perur

Noted Kannada writer and cultural thinker S Nataraja Budalu has won the 'Sahitya Akademi Prize for Translation 2020'. Nataraj's work in Kannada 'Sarahapada'—a translation of collections (works, philosophy and dohas) Apabhransh Devanagri Sarahapada is one among the 24 books in various Indian languages chosen for the Akademi's annual translation awards, last week.

The works were chosen based on the recommendations made by a three-member selection committee comprising Chandrakanth Pokale, Laxmi Chandrashekar and O L Nagabhushana Swamy and the selections were approved by Akademi president Dr Chandrashekhar Kambara.

Budalu, who retired from the first-grade college in Tumakuru as a professor, has also written books such as 'Nagarjuna-Allama Prabhu', 'Hindana Hejjeyanaritallade' 'Matina Modalu', 'Samskrutu Meemamse'.

Similarly, Srinath Perur has also won the award in the English section for his translation of the Kannada novel 'Ghachar Ghochar' by Vivek Shanbhag. This apart several Kannada works including the work of Dr Chandrashekhar Kambara's 'Shikhara Surya' that was translated to other languages has been chosen for the award. While Dr Kambara's work was translated to Malayalam as 'Shikharasuryan', Gopalakrishna Pai's work 'Swapna Saraswatha' has been translated to Konkani.

Yet another Kannada work 'Om Namo' by Shantinatha Desai has also won the award for its Telugu translation. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 50,000 and a copper plaque.