Telugu writer Penugonda Lakshminaryana among 21 Sahitya Akademi Award winners

New Delhi: Penugonda Lakshminaryana, a renowned writer from Guntur has been selected for the prestigious Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award for his works “Deepika Abhyudaya Vyaasa Sampurti.”

Lakshminarayana is a practicing lawyer and an active member of the Progressive writers Association since 1972. Lakshminarayana began his literary journey in 1972 with the poem ‘Samadhi.’

In 2023 he became the first Telugu writer to be elected as the national president of the Association. He also has the distinction of being elected as the first Telugu writer to get elected as the president of the progressive writers association.

In all the Centre has announced the names of 21 receipients of the award. Among them are Hindi poet Gagan Gill and English writer Easterine Kire.

Recommended by jury members in 21 languages, the awards recognise works in different categories including novels, short stories, poetry, essays and plays. Gill was selected for her book on poetry "Main Jab Tak Aai Bahar", Kire made it to the coveted list for her novel "Spirit Nights". The winning list includes eight poetry books, three novels, two short stories, three essays, three works of literary criticism, one play and one research. Sohan Kaul will receive the award for her Kashmiri novel "Psychiatric Ward", while Paul Kaur has been selected for her Punjabi book on poetry "Sun Gunvanta Sun Budhivanta: Itihaasnama Punjab". Other recipients of award in poetry include K Jayakumar (Malayalam), Haobam Satyabati Devi (Manipuri), Dileep Jhaveri (Gujarati), Sameer Tanti (Assamese), Mukut Maniraj (Rajasthani) and Dipak Kumar Sharma (Sanskrit). Apart from Kire and Kaul, Aron Raja also made it to the winning list in the novels genre for his fiction book "Swrni Thakhai" in Bodo. Yuva Baral's "Chhichimira" (Nepali) and Hundraj Balwani's "Purzo" (Sindhi) were the picks in the short stories section. Mukesh Thali (Konkani), Mahendra Malangia (Maithili) and Baishnab Charan Samai (Odia) will receive the award for their essays, while AR Venkatachalapathy (Tamil), recognised for his research and Maheshwar Sorn for his play "Seched Sawnta Ren Andha Manmi" (Santali). KV Narayana and Sudhir Rasal.

They will be awarded for their literary criticism in Kannada, Marathi and Telugu, respectively. The awards were approved by the executive Board of the Sahitya Akademi which met on Wednesday under the chairmanship of its president Madhav Kaushik, the academy of letters said in a statement. The awards relate to books first published during the five years immediately preceding the year of the award, i.e. between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2022. The authors and poets will receive a plaque, a shawl and an amount of Rs 1 lakh in an award ceremony on March 8, 2025 Bengali, Dogri and Urdu language awards will be declared later