Sahitya Akademi 2023 Awards For Authors Neelum Saran Gaur, Rajasekaran Among Others | See Full List Here

Twenty four writers from across the country were presented with the Sahitya Akademi Award for 2023 on Tuesday, for their literary works including poetry, novels, short stories, essays and literary study.

The awards relate to books first published during the five years immediately preceding the year of the award, i.e. between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2021. Here are some notable names who won the award:

Hindi novelist Sanjeev

Fiction writer Sanjeev’s Hindi novel Mujhe Pehchano bagged the Sahitya Akademi Award 2023 in the novel category. The novel is centred on the life of the sister-in-law of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, one of the architects of Indian Renaissance. With the core theme being oppression of sati, the book delves into the exploitation of women and debunks such ‘inhuman’ religious beliefs.

English author Neelum Saran Gaur

Author Neelum Saran Gaur’s most recent novel, ‘Requiem In Raga Janki’ won the award in the novel category. Based on the real-life story of the famous Allahabad singer Janki Bai Ilahabadi (1880–1934) the historical novel narrates the forgotten story of the lone woman who was attacked at the age of eight by her suitor, Raghunandan, with 56 knives. After surviving this stabbing, she came to be known as ‘Chhappan Churi’. The novel also won the coveted Hindu Fiction Prize for 2018. 

Tamil author Rajasekaran (Devibharathi)

Devibharathi born Rajasekaran has emerged as an important voice in the Tamil literary milieu with his literary contributions over the two decades. His third novel Neeravah Paduum won the Akademi award. Narrating the life of the Kudi Navithar, the community barbers in the Kongu region of Tamil Nadu, the novel portrays the life cycle of the small-town people in the region, which is driven by poverty and turmoil.  

Kannada Scholar Lakshmisha Tolpadi

Scholar Lakshmisha Tolpadi’s Kannada essay Mahabharatha Anusandhana Bharatahayatre bagged the Akademi in the essays category. The collection of essays on Vyasa Mahabharatha had been published in 2017 as a Sunday column in the Kannada daily Prajavani. They are commentaries of Vyasa’s worldview through the eyes of a Kannada scholar, looking at a range of mundane as well as larger philosophical issues.

Malayali Literary Critic Ramakrishnan

E.V.Ramakrishnan’s Malayala Novelinte Deshakalangal (2017) won the award in the literary study category. The study is an analysis of Malayalam novels in the context of concepts of land, occupation, secularism, nation, state, public sphere, civil society, subordinate and elite forms of nationalism. Ramakrishnan has published seven critical books in Malayalam, including Anubhavangale Aarkkanu Peti (2013),) and Aksharavum Aadhunikatayum (1994) for which he was awarded Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award. 

Here is the full list of Sahitya Akademi 2023 awardees

Poetry 

Vijay Verma (Dogri) 

Vinod Joshi (Gujarati) 

Manshoor Banihali (Kashmiri) 

Sorokkhaibam Gambhini (Manipuri) 

Ashutosh Parida (Odia) 

Swarnjit Savi (Punjabi) 

Gaje Singh Rajpurohit (Rajasthani) 

Arun Ranjan Mishra (Sanskrit) 

Vinod Asudani (Sindhi) 

Novel 

Swapnamay Chakrabarti (Bengali) 

Neelum Saran Gour (English) 

Sanjeev (Hindi) 

Krushnat Khot (Marathi) 

Rajasekaran (Devibharathi) (Tamil) 

Sadiqua Nawab Saher (Urdu)

Short Stories 

Pranavjyoti Deka (Assamese) 

Nandeswar Daimari (Bodo) 

Prakash S. Parienkar (Konkani) 

Taraceen Baskey (Turia Chand Baskey) (Santali) 

T. Patanjali Sastry (Telugu)

Essays

 Lakshmisha Tolpadi (Kannada) 

Basukinath Jha (Maithili) 

Judhabir Rana (Nepali) 

Literary Study 

E.V. Ramakrishnan (Malayalam)