"It is for the first time that books in the newly recognised Bodo and Santhali language were selected for the awards," Narang said while declaring the awards.
She turned down the award in protest against the Indian government toeing the United States line.
Acclaimed writer Nayantara Sahgal, the niece of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, has returned the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award to protest against the "vicious assault" on India's diversity and the government's failure to protect cultural diversity.
The train of writers returning government-conferred honours has now been joined by Vadodara-based author and poet Anil Joshi who announced that he will give up his Sahitya Akademi award over the recent killing of rationalist MM Kalburgi and a few others.
Tamil writer S Balasubramanian and Marathi playwright Mahesh Elkunchwar are also among the 22 litterateurs selected.
Kashinath Singh and Katyayani Vidmahe announced their decision to return their awards.
Voicing displeasure over the Dadri lynching incident and a string of killings of rationalists, he also questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's continued silence on these.
Booker Prize winning author Salman Rushdie joined the growing chorus of protests by leading writers against spread of "communal poison" and "rising intolerance" in the country even as seven more authors decided to return their Sahitya Akademi awards.
The Delhi HC asked the Centre to produce record related to writers who returned their Sahitya Akademi awards.
'If they oppose the government on different issues, what has the Sahitya Akademi got to do with it?'
A clueless Sahitya Akademi has now called a meeting of its executive council on October 23 to decide the future course of action.
Three eminent writers from Punjab announced that they were returning their Sahitya Akademi awards, while Kannada writer Aravind Malagatti resigned from the body's general council, joining the growing protest by litterateurs over "rising intolerance" and "communal" atmosphere.
The fellowships are limited to 21 'immortals of literature' at a time.
Ramanunni had received an anonymous threat letter warning him that his right arm and left leg would be chopped off if he did not convert to Islam within six months.
Playwright and novelist Cyrus Mistry's English novel Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer and K R Meera's Aarachar in Malayalam are among the works that have won the prestigious Sahitya Akademi award for this year.
He beat Jnanpith award winner Mahashweta Devi.
Strongly condemning the killing of writer MM Kalburgi, Sahitya Akademi today passed a unanimous resolution appealing to state and central governments to take steps to prevent such incidents and asked authors to take back the awards they had returned to protest against "rising intolerance".
Eminent litterateur and Sahitya Akademi President Sunil Gangopadhyay died at his South Kolkata residence in the early hours on Tuesday following a massive heart attack. He was 78.
Akademi Secretary K Sachidanand said they are trying to make her reconsider.
Ria Vithasha, 17, known by her pen name Muddu Thirthahalli, returned her Karnataka Sahitya Akademi award.
Noted Bengali writer Sunil Gangopadhyay was on Wednesday elected the new president of the Sahitya Akademi, considered India's most prestigious literary post. Gangopadhyay defeated noted Malayalam writer and Jnanpith award winner M T Vasudevan Nair by five votes in the election for the post of president of the Akademi. In an election for the post, necessitated after lack of consensus in the 89-member general council, Gangopadhyay bagged 45 voted while Nair got 40 votes.
In a letter to Secretary of Sahitya Akademi on Wednesday, Bhardwaj, also attached a cheque of Rs 50,000 which he got with the award in 2004.
Eminent author Vikram Seth on Friday came out in support of the Sahitya Akademi statement denouncing the recent killing of writers, saying it has condemned the "atmosphere of fear" sought to be created by such acts and acted as an "independent body".
After eminent writers Nayantara Sahgal and Ashok Vajpeyi, Malayalam novelist and Aam Aadmi Party leader Sarah Joseph today said she would return the Sahitya Akademi award in protest against what she called the "growing communalism" and "life threat faced by writers" in the country after Narendra Modi government assumed office.
Writers including those who had returned their Sahitya Akademi awards on Sunday wrote to the National Academy of Letters urging it to respond in a "strong, humane and robust" manner to situations.
A group of protesters on Saturday marched to the office of a Malayalam vernacular magazine in New Delhi raising slogans, claiming that a novel serialised in the publication defamed Hindu women and the Brahmin community.
The police on Thursday booked litterateur Hiren Gohain, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti chief Gogoi and senior journalist Manjit Mahanta under sedition charges for their comments on the Citizenship Amendment Bill.
Revenue generated from the final podcast featuring Zubeen Garg will be placed in a 20-year fixed deposit to support emerging artists.
'We met Gulzar sahab at his residence to honour him with the Jnanpith Award. Gulzar sahab's son-in-law Govind Sandhu, filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj, his wife Rekha, and a few writers were present on this occasion.'
A parliamentary committee has suggested 'consent of the recipient' was a must in case a National Akademi decided to confer an award to prevent the honour's return by the individual for political reasons as it was 'disgraceful' to the country.
Her action comes in the wake of a parade of litterateurs renouncing their coveted prizes.
Writers from across the country gathered at Shri Ram Centre near Mandi House and marched towards Sahitya Akademi in the capital, wearing black ribbons on their heads as a sign of protest.
Eminent poet and writer K Satchidanandan on Saturday resigned from all committees of the Sahitya Akademi, saying the literary body had "failed" in its duty to stand with writers and uphold freedom of expression.
"I have decided to return the award. The minorities in the country are feeling unsafe and threatened. They feel their future is bleak," Khayal said.
'A truly original Hindi writer whose writing no other author can match.'
8 Member of Parliaments were suspended from Lok Sabha for tearing & throwing papers at the Chair till April 2. Uproar started when Rahul Gandhi was barred from citing former Army Chief, General M M Naravane's memoir on 2020 India-China clash. Rediff.com brings you the details of these MPs who were suspended.
The Assam government will request the Gauhati High Court to set up a fast-track court to decide on singer Zubeen Garg's death case. The cabinet also decided to appoint a special public prosecutor for the case.
Nagarkar, a Sahitya Akademi Award winner, had been ailing for some time and was admitted to a hospital in south Mumbai where he died at night, hospital sources said.
Poet, writer and former IPS officer Keki N Daruwalla, whose magic with words gained him national and international repute, has died at a Delhi hospital after prolonged illness and a spell of pneumonia. He was 87.
Facing heat over a long list of writers who have returned Sahitya Akademi awards or resigned from their posts in the literary body, Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday denied that it was being soft on the issue of "intolerance" and said the ideological inclinations of the writers should be looked into.
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