Sahitya Akademi Award 2021: Namita Gokhale named among 20 winners; Full list of Sahitya Akademi winners here

Sahitya Akademi Award 2021 list: Eminent author Namita Gokhale, Punjabi writer Khalid Hussain and TMC MLA Bratya Basu are among the 20 winners of the Sahitya Akademi Award 2021 announced on December 30, 2021, by Sahitya Akademi. English writer Namita Gokhale won the award for her novel ‘Things to Leave Behind’. She is among the authors who have been honored with Sahitya Akademi Award 2021 in 20 different languages.

The annual Sahitya Akademi Award included seven books of poetry, five short stories, two novels, two plays, and one book each of autobiography, biography, epic poetry, and criticism. While Namita Gokhale won the literary honour for her epic historical novel, Bratya Basu and Khalid Hussain won Sahitya Akademi Award 2021 for a play and collection of stories ‘Sullan Da Salan’, respectively.

Deeply honoured by the Sahitya Akademi Award for English, 2021 for my novel Things To Leave Behind. Feel a deep sense of pride and gratitude to belong to the vibrant Indian literatures. #ManyLanguagesOneLiterature @sahityaakademi @PenguinIndia @JaipurLitFest pic.twitter.com/RbNuJdtAXv

— Namita Gokhale (@NamitaGokhale_) December 30, 2021

According to Sahitya Akademi's statement, the awards for Gujarati, Manipuri, Maithili, and Urdu languages will be announced at a later date.

Sahitya Akademi Award 2021: How winners are selected?

Sahitya Akademi explained that the books were selected for Sahitya Akademi Award on the basis of the recommendation made by a jury of three members in the concerned languages as per the procedure laid down for the purpose.

The Executive Board of Sahitya Akademi declared the awards on the basis of unanimous selections made by the jurors or the selection made on the basis of the majority vote. 

Sahitya Akademi Awards relate to books that are first published during the five years immediately preceding the year of the award (between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2019). 

Sahitya Akademi Award 2021: What is the prize money?

Sahitya Akademi Award 2021 will include a casket containing a shawl, an engraved copper plaque, and an amount of Rs. 1,00,000. 

Sahitya Akademi Award will be presented to the winners at the award presentation function which will take place at a later date. 

Press Release: #SahityaAkademi announced its Annual Sahitya Akademi Award-2021 in 20 languages today.#AmritMahotsav @AmritMahotsav @kishanreddybjp @arjunrammeghwal @M_Lekhi @MinOfCultureGoI @secycultureGOI @Sen2Partha @ksraosahitya @BOC_MIB @PIB_India @PIBCulture @MIB_India pic.twitter.com/qC5w6D1HDf

— Sahitya Akademi (@sahityaakademi) December 30, 2021

Sahitya Akademi Award

Sahitya Akademi Award by Sahitya Akademi is a literary honour in India that is conferred on the writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit that are published in any of the 24 major Indian languages. The prestigious literary award is conferred by Sahitya Akademi which is India's National Academy of Letters. 

Sahitya Akademi Award was established in 1954 and it comprises a plaque and a cash prize of Rs. 1,00,000.  The aim of the Sahitya Akademi Award is to recognize and promote excellence in Indian writing as well as also acknowledge the new trends in literature. 

Sahitya Akademi Award plaque which is awarded to the winners was designed by Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray.

Full list of Sahitya Akademi Award 2021 winners

Read More: Sahitya Akademi Awards 2020: M Veerappa Moily, Arundhathi Subramaniam named among 20 winners, Check Full List!