The Sahitya Akademi yesterday gave away literary awards at its ongoing annual “Festival of Letters”. The awards recognized the contributions of famous poets–Javed Akhtar (Urdu), Subodh Sarkar (Bengali) and Ambika Dutt (Rajasthani).

The Akademi also awarded the novelists such as Mridula Garg (Hindi), Manmohan (Punjabi) and R.N. Joe D’ Cruz (Tamil) for their works. They were presented awards by the Sahitya Akademi president Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari.

Dr. Tiwari who presided the ceremony expressed gratitude for their contributions. Later the Akademi secretary K. Sreenivasarao welcomed the awardees in a candid speech. The Sahitya Akademi awards are one of the prestigious literary honours given in India to authors writing in Indian languages. Of late the Akademi has lost its impact over the literary community but it has started emerging with new initiatives and engagement with authors.

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).