Famous poets Javed Akhtar (Urdu), Subodh Sarkar (Bengali) and Ambika Dutt (Rajasthani) were among the literary giants who were felicitated by the Sahitya Akademi at the ongoing annual “Festival of Letters” in the Capital on Tuesday.
Novelists Mridula Garg (Hindi), Manmohan (Punjabi) and R.N. Joe D’ Cruz (Tamil) were among those who accepted the awards from the Sahitya Akademi president Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari.
Presiding over the ceremony, Dr. Tiwari said: “What the Sahitya Akademi is offering to these literary greats is merely a gesture compared to their immense contribution to Indian literature.
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“We are privileged to be able to salute their great works in the form of this felicitation, which is not to be considered a prize but an apt recognition for their efforts, dedication and the perfection that they have achieved in their works.”
Welcoming the awardees and literary connoisseurs, Akademi secretary K. Sreenivasarao said: “If only we spent a little more time reading and pondering the profound literary works that Indian authors and philosophers have produced over centuries, each one of us would benefit by their wisdom and be a better person than we are today.”
The award winners included Rabindra Sarkar (Assamese), Anil Boro (Bodo), Sita Ram Sapolia (Dogri), Temsula Ao (English), Chinu Modi (Gujarati), C.N. Ramachandran (Kannada), Mohi-ud-Din Reshi (Kashmiri), Tukaram Ram Shet (Konkani), Sureshwar Jha (Maithili), M. N. Paloor (Malayalam), Makhonmani Mongsaba (Manipuri) and Satish Kalsekar (Marathi).
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