Punjabi writers Ajeet Cour and Gurbhachan Singh Bhullar have been selected for Kuvempu Rashtriya Puraskar of the year 2019.
The award is instituted by Rashtrakavi Kuvempu Pratishthana, Kuppalli, the trust formed to popularise the writings of poet laureate Kuvempu and to propagate the principles advocated by him. It carries a purse of ₹5 lakh.
The names of Ms. Cour and Mr. Bhullar were finalised by a three-member committee comprising Chiranjeevi Singh, retired IAS officer; Chaman Lal, a retired professor who had served with Jawaharlal Nehru University; and Agrahara Krishnamurthy, former secretary of Sahitya Akademi. A meeting of the Pratishthana held in Bengaluru recently decided to confer the awards at a programme that will be held in Kuppalli, birth place of Kuvempu in Shivamogga district, on December 29 to mark his birth anniversary.
Ms. Cour has authored novels titled ‘Dhupwala Shahr’, ‘Gauri’ and ‘Post Mortem’ while ‘Gulbano’, ‘Mehek Di Maut’ and ‘Butt Shikan’ are some of her short-story collections. She was honoured with Sahitya Academy and Padma Shri awards.
‘Agni-Kalas’, ‘Opra Mard’, ‘Vakhtan Maare’ are some of the short story collections authored by Mr. Bhullar. He was conferred with the Sahitya Akademi award but he returned it back later to register his opposition to the killing of rationalist and Kannada writer M.M. Kalburgi.
