Saraswati Samman conferred upon Gujarati poet Sitanshu Yashaschandra

The 27th Saraswati Samman was conferred upon eminent Gujarati poet Sitanshu Yashaschandra on Tuesday.

Organised by the K K Birla Foundation, the award for 2017 was given to Yashaschandra for his poetry collection, 'Vakhar', published in 2009.

Speaking at the event, Suresh Rituparna, the member-secretary of the selection committee, said the poetry collection was "the pinnacle of Yashaschandra's poetic journey". "He crosses the boundaries of real world and establishes high standards of liberty in language and creativity by evolving a balance in the contradicting elements of human emotions and thoughts," Rituparna said.

While thanking the selection committee, headed by Subhash C Kashyap, Yashaschandra said, "No poetry is written in only one language, regional literature seems to be a misnomer to me."