Veteran poet Balkrishna Garg was today honoured with the second Harikrishna Devsare Baalsahitya Award 2015 for his collection of poems for children, titled 'BaalGeet'.
Sahitya Akademi President Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari and National Book Trust Chairman Baldeo Bhai Sharma conferred the award comprising a cash prize of Rs 75,000, a shawl and a citation on Garg at a function here.
The jury, which chose Garg for the award, said his "poems while adopting the modern poetic forms also retain the simplicity and lucidity of traditional style of poetry written for children."
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"His poetic language is simple, intuitive, musical and comprehensible," it added.
Reciting lines from his poems while accepting the award, Garg said: "I am very happy to receive the award."
Harikrishna Devsare, one of the foremost writers of Hindi children's literature, devoted his entire life in creating meaningful children's literature in Hindi.
"His vision was to modern literature with scientific outlook for children that would not only fuel their imagination and creativity but would also prepare them to face the challenges of future," organisers of the Harikrishna Devsare Children's Trust, instituted in the memory of the late writer, said.
Known for experimentation in his writings, Devsare had launched a serious debate by questioning the relevance of the tales of kings and queens and fairies in the modern context.
With over 300 books for children to his credit, Devsare has been a recipient of several awards and honours, including Bal Sahityakar Samman, Bal Sahitya Samman of Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthan, Kriti Samman (2001) and Sahityakar Samman (2004) of Hindi Akademi, Delhi.
Akademi President Tiwari said, "It is very difficult to write for children, and for that one has to to dip deeply into memories of childhood."
Members of the jury included renowned Litterateur and poet Sher Jung Garg, recipient of the 2015 Sahitya Akademi Children's Literature Award, besides senior Litterateur Sheela Jhunjhunwala, recipient of Padamshree Award, and Gangesh Gunjan, recipient of Sahitya Akademi.
Apart from Garg, Hem Bhatnagar and Yogendra Kumar were also felicitated for their contributions to children's literature.
