Two prominent writers from Jammu and Kashmir, Prof. Lalit Magotra and Naseem Shafaie, were among the several litterateurs conferred with the coveted Sahitya Akademi Award for the year 2011. While Magotra has bagged the award for his collection of Dogri essays titled ‘Cheten Diyan Galiyan’, Kashmir’s well known poetess, Shafaie has got it for her poetic collection “Na Thsay Na Aks”.
This prestigious award ceremony will be held in Delhi on February 14, 2012 and they will also be rewarded with prize money of Rs.1 lakh.
While talking to News Agency Jammu, an elated Prof Magotra said that the content in the book depicts different shades and facets of life in Dogra culture as well as human relations. “I have tried to analyze about the changing time in this book, whether we have progressed or not,” he added.
Born in November 1944 in Jammu, Prof. Lalit Magotra is also a Physicist holding degrees of M. Sc. and Ph.D. in Physics (High Energy Physics) and retired as professor of Physics from University of Jammu. He has more than 200 scientific publications (Physics) in international journals of highest repute and has spent about five years in European countries.
He wrote his first short story in Dogri in the year 1972 and his first play in 1976. Since then Prof. Magotra has written prolifically in various genres of Dogri including short story, one-act play, stage-play, essays, travelogue, literary criticism etc. He has four books to his credit in Dogri. Prof. Magotra remained general secretary of Dogri Sanstha for seven years and is now the president of this prestigious organization since 1996.
The awarded book of Prof. Magotra “Cheten Diyan Ga’liyan” is a collection of 65 short personal essays which show Prof. Magotra as a cosmopolitan author rooted to the soil of his birth. The content of the essays is absorbing, informative and instructive. Of the 65 essays, 30 are a commentary on the state of affairs around us. Of special interest are his autobiographical pieces.
Naseem Shafaie, become the first Kashmiri woman to get the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award.This is the second award for 'Na Thsaay Na Aks'. In 2009, it was chosen for the first ever Tagore Award, jointly sponsored by the Sahitya Akademi and Samsung Electronics in collaboration with the South Korean government. 'Na Thsay Na Aks', which represents modern sensibility on the poetic scene in Kashmir, was released in 2008 and is second poetic collection of the poet.
Naseem Shafaie’s earlier poetic collection 'Derche Machrith (Open windows)' was released in 1999. Many of her poems, including the ones that depict the suppressed atmosphere of turbulent Kashmir, have been translated into different languages including English, Urdu, Kannada, Tamil, Marathi and Telugu.
The other poets getting the award are Kabin Phukan (Assamese), Manindra Gupta (Bengali), Premananda Mosahari (Bodo), Melvyn Rodrigues (Konkani), Harekrishna Satapathy (Sanskrit), Aditya Kumar Mandi (Santali) and Khaleel Mamoon (Urdu).
Eight books of poetry, seven of novels, three of essays, one each of short stories, narrative history, biography and a play have won the Sahitya Akademi Award this year.
The recommendation for the awards was made by jury members representing 23 Indian languages and approved by the executive board of the Sahitya Akademi. The jury met in New Delhi yesterday and announced the awards. The award function will be held in New Delhi on February 14 next year.
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