The KK Birla Foundation has announced that Tamil writer Sivasankari will be the recipient of the prestigious Saraswati Samman award for the year 2022, for her 2019 memoir, Surya Vamsam. This award is one of the most esteemed recognitions in Indian literature, and comes with a cash prize of Rs 15 lakh, a plaque, and a citation.
Sivasankari is a prolific writer with a career spanning over 50 years, during which she has written 36 novels, 48 novellas, 150 short stories, 15 travelogues, seven collections of essays, and three biographies, including one on former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Her literary contributions have been widely recognized, and her works have been translated into several Indian languages, as well as English, Japanese, and Ukrainian.
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One of Sivasankari’s greatest contributions to Indian literature is her four-volume work, ‘Knit India Through Literature’, which features the perspectives of literary giants in 18 languages, as expressed through their stories and interviews. She has also had eight of her novels adapted into films, directed by renowned filmmakers, and has won numerous awards for her writing, including the national and regional ‘Best Mega Serial’ awards for her novel ‘Kutti’, which explores the issue of girl child labor.
In addition to her literary achievements, Sivasankari has been invited to participate in several international programs, including the International Writers Program and the International Visitors Program at Iowa University in the United States. Her works have also been recorded in her own voice for the Archives of the US Library of Congress to commemorate its bicentennial celebrations.
The Saraswati Samman is an annual literary award that recognizes exceptional literary works written in any Indian language by Indian citizens during the ten years prior to the award year. The selection committee, known as the Chayan Parishad, is chaired by former Supreme Court judge Arjan Kumar Sikri and includes distinguished scholars and writers from across the country.
Apart from the Saraswati Samman, the KK Birla Foundation has also established two other literary awards: the Bihari Puraskar and the Vyas Samman.
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