Shashi Tharoor Wins Sahitya Akademi Award In English For 'An Era of Darkness'

Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor has been given the Sahitya Akademi Award for the year 2019 in English language. Tharoor has been awarded for his non-fiction 'An Era of Darkness'. Dr. Nand Kishore Acharya has been given the award in Hindi while Shafey Kidwai has won in Urdu. The Sahitya Akademi has announced its annual Sahitya Akademi Awards in 23 languages on Wednesday. According to a release, seven books of poetry, four of novel, six of short stories, three of essays and one each of non-fiction, autobiography and biography have won the Sahitya Akademi Awards 2019.

Seven books of poetry were awarded to Dr. Phukan Ch. Basumatary (Bodo), Dr. Nand Kishore Acharya (Hindi), Sri Nilba A. Khandekar (Konkani), Sri Kumar Manish Arvind (Maithili), Sri V. Madhusoodanan Nair (Malayalam), Smt. Anuradha Patil (Marathi) and Prof. Penna Madhusudan (Sanskrit). Four novels were awarded to Dr. Joysree Goswami Mahanta (Assamese), Sri L. Birmangol Singh (Beryl Thanga) (Manipuri), Sri Cho. Dharman (Tamil) and Sri Bandi Narayana Swamy (Telugu).

Six books of short stories were awarded to Sri Abdul Ahad Hajini (Kashmiri), Sri Tarun Kanti Mishra (Odia), Sri Kirpal Kazak (Punjabi), Sri Ramsawroop Kisan (Rajasthani), Sri Kali Charan Hembram (Santali) and Sri Ishwar Moorjani (Sindhi). Dr. Shashi Tharoor (English), Dr. Vijaya (Kannada) and Prof. Shafey Kidwai (Urdu) have won for each of their works on creative non-fiction, autobiography and biography respectively. Three books of essays were awarded to Dr. Chinmoy Guha (Bengali), Sri Om Sharma Jandriari (Dogri) and Sri Ratilal Borisagar (Gujarati).

Here's the full list:

Assamese: Joyshree Goswami Mahanta

Bengali: Chinmaya Guha

Bodo: Phukan Chandra

Dogri: Om Sharma

English: Shashi Tharoor

Gujarati: Ratilal Borisagar

Hindi: Nand Kishore Acharya

Kannada: Vijaya

Kashmiri: Abdul Ahad Hajini

Konkani: Nilba A Khandekar

Maithili: Kumar Manish Arvind

Malayalam: V Madhusudan Nair

Manipuri: Beryl Thanga

Marathi: Anuradha Patil

Odia: Tarun Kanti Mishra

Punjabi: Kirpal Kazak

Rajasthani: Ramswaroop Kisan

Sanskrit: Penna Madhusudan

Santhali: Kali Charan Hembram

Sindhi: Ishwar Moorjani

Tamil: Cho. Dharman

Telugu: Bandi Narayana Swamy

Urdu: Shafey Kidwai

The books were selected on the basis of recommendations made by a Jury of three members in the concerned languages in accordance with the procedure laid down for the purpose.

According to the procedure, the Executive Board declared the Awards on the basis of unanimous selections made by the Jurors or selection made on the basis of majority vote. The Awards relate to books first published during the five years immediately preceding the year of Award (i.e. between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2017).

The Awards were recommended by distinguished Jury members representing 23 Indian languages and approved by the Executive Board of the Sahitya Akademi which met today under the Chairmanship of Dr. Chandrashekhar Kambar, President, Sahitya Akademi. The award that includes an imprinted copperplate, shawl and a sum of Rs 1 Lakh is will be given the Festival of Letters to be held in New Delhi on February 25, 2020.