Sahitya Akademi Awards 2021: Here's A List Of All The Women Authors Honoured

The prestigious Sahitya Akademi Awards 2021 were announced Thursday in recognition of authors and poets across 20 languages. It is backed by the Sahitya Akademi organisation under the centre's Ministry of Culture that, since 1954, has been committed to the promotion of literature in India. Authors Namita Gokhale, Ambai and other women are at the forefront of the awards this year.

For the 2021 awards, two novels, five short stories, seven poetry books, two plays, an autobiography, a biography, a book on criticism and a poem were picked. Awardees will be rewarded a cash prize of Rs 1,00,000. More here.

Here Are The Women Authors Recognised This Year:

Sahitya Akademi Award 2021:

Noted writer and director of the Jaipur Literary Festival, Namita Gokhale is the recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award 2021 for her English novel Things to Leave Behind. The novel is set in Gokhale's hometown of hilly Kumaon in the 19th-20th century and touches upon colonial history with the women of the state at the centre of it.

Anuradha Sarma Pujari won the same award for her work in Assamese, Iyat Ekhon Aranya Asil. Feminist Tamil writer Ambai won for Sivappu kazhuthudan oru pachai paravai (which translates to A Green Bird with a Red Neck).

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Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar 2021:

Author Megha Majumdar, meanwhile, won the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar 2021 for A Burning, which is her debut novel and straddles multilayered themes of contemporary catastrophe explored through the lives of three key characters.

Drashti Soni won the award for her Gujarati book A-Manas; Konkani writer Sharddha Garad won for her poetry book Kavya Parmal; Swetapadma Satapathy received the award for her Sanskrit short stories, Kathakalpalata.

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Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2021:

Anita Vachharajani received the Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2021 for her children's book in English, Amrita Sher-Gil: Rebel With A Paintbrush that tracks the journey of the iconic Hungarian-Indian painter against easy-to-understand historical backgrounds.

Sumedha Kamat Desai won the Bal Sahitya award for her Konkani short story Sumiche Cottangree; Rajasthani writer Kirti Sharma's Paani Ra Rukhalaa was recognised in the category as well; Sanskrit writer Asha Agarwal was honoured too.