Sahitya Akademi honour for two Odia authors

BHUBANESWAR: Two Odia authors have been chosen for the Bal Sahitya Puraskar and Yuva Puraskar for 2024 by the Central Sahitya Akademi.

While Sanjay Kumar Panda has been selected for the Yuva Puraskar for his book of short stories ‘Hu Baieaa’, Manas Ranjan Samal will receive the Bal Sahitya Puraskar for ‘Gapa Kalika’, also a book of short stories.

This was announced by the Sahitya Akademi on Saturday following its executive board meeting which was presided over by Akademi’s president Madhav Kaushik. The books were chosen on the basis of recommendations made by a jury of three members in the language. The Bal Sahitya Puraskar relates to books published between 2018 and 2022.

Editor of one of the oldest magazines ‘Jhumuka’, Samal had previously received the Odisha Sahitya Akademi award for children’s literature. His ‘Gapa Kalika’ has 10 stories.

Similarly, Panda’s ‘Hu Baieaa’ was released in 2021 and has 10 stories of people from marginalised communities of the society. The book is the first story collection of Panda while he had been writing poetry and prose since a young age. Last year, he came up with his second short story collection ‘Takia’. Both will receive engraved copper plaques and a cash reward of `50,000 each at a special function by the Sahitya Akademi at a later date.