 "Writers and poets returning awards to protest intolerance")
Playwright and novelist Cyrus Mistry's English novel Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer and K R Meera's Aarachar in Malayalam are among the works that have won the Sahitya Akademi award for this year.
"The awards were recommended by distinguished jury members representing 23 Indian languages and approved by the executive board of the Akademi which met under the chairmanship of president Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari," Akademi's Secretary K Sreenivasarao said.
The award, comprising an engraved plaque, a shawl and a cheque of Rs 1 lakh, will be presented to writers at a function on February 16 next year during the Festival of Letters, the annual festival of the Akademi.
The Akademi also announced Bhasha Samman to writer and scholar Shrikant Bahulkar in recognition of his contribution to classical and medieval literature (western region).
The announcement of the awards comes in the backdrop of 39 writers returning their awards in protest against the Akademi's alleged silence on the murder of Akademi board member M M Kalburgi, as well as against the growing "communal atmosphere" following the Dadri lynching incident.
"We have received cheques by 35 authors, but the Akademi has decided not to deposit the cheques to establish its refusal to accept the return of awards," Rao said.
Stating that the Akademi has decided not to take back the returned awards, he said, "The Sahitya Akademi is an institute for the writers, by the writers and of the writers. They are respected writers and are like family members of the Akademi."
