Eminent author of children’s books from Telangana, Vasala Narasaiah has bagged the prestigious Bal Sahitya Puraskar for the year 2017. The Kendra Sahitya Akademi on Thursday announced the award, recognising his lifetime contribution to children’s literature in Telugu over 35 years.
The citation and a cash prize of ₹ 50,000 will be given in New Delhi this November 14. The Bal Sahitya Puraskar is presented to writers who are involved in children’s literature in 24 languages since 2010.
Mr. Narasaiah has won several awards earlier, including the State Bala Sahitya Puraskar presented by Potti Sri Ramulu Telugu University in 2009. Born in 1942 at Chavulamaddi village of erstwhile Karimnagar district, he retired as a Postal Superintendent in 2002. With a literary bent of mind, since the age of 12 Mr. Narasaiah took to writing and his early works largely involved mythological plays and poetry. However, he got attracted to children’s literature and saw that there were not many works, especially in Telugu language.
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Since 1997, he immersed himself in children’s literature in Telugu and published over 36 books on children’s stories, songs, poems, riddles, book reviews, essays and also translations. The 74-year-old writer and poet expressed his gratitude to the Sahitya Akademi and said such recognition would bolster him and others to continue on the same path.
Besides continuing his literary journey, Mr. Narasaiah is also felicitating children’s authors with Vasala Narasaiah Bala Sahiti Puraskars since 2009 in a bid to encourage more writers to take up writing in the genre.