Javed Akhtar among Sahitya Akademi Award winners for 2013

Bollywood lyricist Javed Akhtar, Bengali poet Subodh Sarkar, and Bodo poet Anil Boro are among those selected for this year's Sahitya Akademi Awards, which were announced Thursday.

In all there are eight poetry books, four essays, three novels, two short stories and travelogues each, and one each of autobiography, memoirs and plays selected for this prestigious literary award, an Akademi statement here said.

The awarded poetry books include Akhtar's "Lava" (collection of Urdu poetry), Sarkar's "Dwaipayan Hrader Dhare" (Bengali), Boro's "Delphini Onthai Mwdai Arw Gubun Gubun Khonthai" (Bodo), Sitaram Sapolia's "Doha Satsai" (Dogri), and Radhakant Thakur's "Chaladuravani" (Sanskrit).

The awards were recommended by jury members representing 22 Indian languages and approved by the executive board of the Sahitya Akademi which met Wednesday under the chairmanship of Akademi president Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari.

Each team of jury members comprised of three people who deliberated over the literary works of these writers before finalising the list.

The winners of the Akademi awards in Assamese and Gujarati languages will be declared later.

The authors will be awarded March 11 next year during the Festival of Letters organised here by the Sahitya Akademi. They will be honoured with an engraved-copper plaque, a shawl, and a cheque of Rs.100,000.

Temsula Ao's "Laburnum For My Head" (English) and Mohi-ud-Din Reshi's "Aina Aatash" (Kashmiri) won in the short story section while M.N. Paloor was awarded for his autobiography "Kathayillathavante Katha" (Malayalam). Satish Kalsekar won the award for his essay "Vachanaryachi Rojanishee" (Marathi).