Hindi poet Gagan Gill and English writer Easterine Kire are among the 21 recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Awards, announced on Wednesday. The awards, recommended by jury members in 21 languages, recognize outstanding works in categories such as novels, short stories, poetry, essays, and plays.
Gill won for her poetry book Main Jab Tak Aai Bahar, while Kire was honored for her novel Spirit Nights.
The list of winners includes eight poetry books, three novels, two short stories, three essays, three works of literary criticism, one play, and one research work.
Notable Awardees
Kashmiri author Sohan Kaul will receive the award for her novel Psychiatric Ward. Paul Kaur was selected for her Punjabi poetry book Sun Gunvanta Sun Budhivanta: Itihaasnama Punjab. Other poetry awardees include K Jayakumar (Malayalam), Haobam Satyabati Devi (Manipuri), Dileep Jhaveri (Gujarati), Sameer Tanti (Assamese), Mukut Maniraj (Rajasthani), and Dipak Kumar Sharma (Sanskrit).
In the novel category, Aron Raja won for his Bodo book Swrni Thakhai, and Chhichimira by Yuva Baral (Nepali) and Purzo by Hundraj Balwani (Sindhi) were selected in the short story category.
In the essay category, Mukesh Thali (Konkani), Mahendra Malangia (Maithili), and Baishnab Charan Samai (Odia) were honored. AR Venkatachalapathy (Tamil) won for his research, while Maheshwar Sorn received the award for his play Seched Sawnta Ren Andha Manmi (Santali).
Awards for Literary Criticism
KV Narayana (Kannada), Sudhir Rasal (Marathi), and Penugonda Lakshminarayana (Telugu) will receive awards for their contributions to literary criticism.
The awards were approved by the Sahitya Akademi’s executive board, chaired by president Madhav Kaushik. The books considered for the awards were first published between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2022.
The recipients will receive a plaque, a shawl, and a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh at the award ceremony on March 8, 2025. Awards for Bengali, Dogri, and Urdu books will be announced at a later date.
