HALL OF FAME
>> Paresh Narendra Kamat of Madkai
>> Conferred Sahitya Akademi award
>> For his 'Chitralipi' collection of poems
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PANAJI: Noted Konkani poet, Paresh Narendra Kamat of Madkai, was conferred this year's prestigious Sahitya Akademi award for his 'Chitralipi' collection of poems.
The Sahitya Akademi announced this year's literary awards for authors, poets and literary critics in 23 other Indian languages including English in Delhi on Wednesday.The awards were recommended by the Akademi's jury members and subsequently approved by its Executive Board headed by President Chandrashekhar Kambar.
Besides Kamat, the other winners are: Anees Saleem in English, Rama Kant Shukla in Sanskrit, Rajesh Kumar Vyas in Rajasthani, Rahman Abbas in Urdu, Lok Nath Upadhyay in Nepali, Chitra Mughal in Hindi and S Ramakrishnan in Tamil.
The books were selected following recommendations made by 3-member juries for each language, according to the Akademi's Secretary K Sreenivasarao.The awards are for books first published between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2016.
A casket containing an engraved copper-plaque, a shawl and a cheque of Rs 1 lakh, is presented to each of the winners which will take place at a special function to be held in January next year.Kamat's "Chitralipi" which crudely translated means language through pictures, was published in 2013. He has been penning poems for over three decades and has a number of collections to his credit.
Expressing happiness over being nominated for the country's most prestigious literary recognition of the country Kamat said: "It is a recognition for the new trend of poetry taking shape in the Konkani language."
Kamat has won the Konkani Basha Mandal's award twice in 2001 and 2005. He also won the Kala Academy's literary award in 2009 among several others over the last two decades.
