23 win Sahitya Akademi awards

Seven novelists and as many poets were among 23 litterateurs in Indian languages, who were on Tuesday awarded the Sahitya Akademi Awards for 2008 here.

The awards, including a posthumous honour, were also presented to five short story writers and three critics and essay writers for their contribution to Indian languages.
The Akademi, which picked up writers from major Indian languages, did not award any English work this year as no book was found eligible.

The youngest awardee was 44-year-old Dinesh Panchal (Rajasthani) while the oldest was 90-year-old Nepali writer Haiman Das Rai Kirat; both in the short story category.

Some other awardees: Malayalam critic KP Appan (posthumous, collection of essays, Madhuram Ninte Jeevitham), Govind Mishra (Hindi novelist, Kohre Mein Kaid Rang), Ghulam Nabi Aatash (Kashmiri critic, Bazyaft), Hiro Shewkani (Sindhi).

Novelists: Rita Choudhury (Assamese), Vidya Narzary (Bodo), Srinivas B Vaidya (Kannada), Ashok Kamat (Konkani), Shyam Manohar (Marathi), Mitter Sain Meet (Punjabi) and Mishra (Kohre Mein Kaid Rang).

Poets: Pramod Kumar Mohanty (Oriya), Sarat Kumar Mukhopadhyay (Bengali), Champa Sharma (Dogri), AO Memchoubi (Manipuri), Om Prakash Pande (Sanskrit) and Jayant Parmer (Urdu).

Short story writers: Suman Shah (Gujarati), Kirat (Nepali), Panchal (Rajasthani), Badal Hembam (Santhali) and Melanmai Ponnusamy (Tamil); Mantreshwar Jha (memoirs in Maithili).