Indian Literature (journal)

Indian Literature is arguably the most prestigious literary journal of India, presently being published bi-monthly by the Sahitya Akademi, the country's National Academy of Letters. The journal is published in English, and its present editor is Mr A. J. Thomas. The Editorial Board of the Journal consists of such eminent literary personalities as Gopi Chand Narang, Sunil Gangopadhyaya and Agrahara Krishna Murthy.

Official Journal of the Kendriya Sahitya Akademi, India

The Sahitya Akademi [http://www.sahitya-akademi.gov.in/sahitya-akademi/index.htm] first launched "Indian Literature" in 1957 as a half-yearly journal in English which chronicled the activities of the Akademi. In the words of Krishna Kripalani, the first editor of "Indian Literature", the modest aim of the journal was:
# To help the writers and readers in the various languages of India to know each other better
# To coordinate literary activities in the various Indian languages and
# Supply and propagate information regarding Indian literature.

But over the years the journal has changed its outlook, and now besides Akademi activities, it also showcases contemporary literary criticism, original creative literary output (in the form of English translation) from different parts of India in the 24 recognized Indian languages as well as the many minor languages like Bhojpuri, Tulu, Manipuri and Kui language etc. The journal completed its 50th year in the year 2007. At present the Journal is a bi-monthly affair, and steps are being taken to make it a monthly literary journal.

Indian Literature Golden Jubilee Literary Translation Awards

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of "Indian Literature", an all-India literary translation competition in Poetry, Fiction & Oral Literature was announced by the Akademi on 29, July, 2007. Three first, second and third prizes, besides five consolation prizes were given away under each category.

Poetry

The prize-winners under the poetry category were as follows :-

1st Prize : Mr Rana Nayar [http://www.museindia.com/showcont.asp?id=298] , Professor in English ( Panjab University, Chandigarh ) E-70, Sector-14, Chandigarh - 160 014.

2nd Prize : Dr Tapan Kumar Pradhan, Member of Faculty, Reserve Bank of India, Zonal Training Centre, Sector - 7, CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai - 400 614.)

3rd Prize : Ms Paromita Das, 16, Pub Sarania, Silpukhuri, Guwahati - 781 003.

Rana Nayar translated the verses of Baba Farid from Punjabi. Dr Tapan Kumar Pradhan won the prize for the poems "Equation", "Kalahandi" and "The Hour of Coming" - which were translations by the poet from his own original Oriya poems. Paromita Das got 3rd prize for the poems "If Life be Lost" and "Life Awakens" - which were English translations of Parvati Prasad Baruwa's poems in Assamese.

Fiction

The prize winners under fiction category were as follows :-

1st Prize : Subrata Banerjee, Visiting Professor, CRRID, Hooghly, West Bengal

2nd Prize : Shoma A. Chatterjee (Film Journalist), 109/33, Hazra Road, Kolkata - 700 026.

3rd Prize : Abha Sah,D-7, III Floor, Atur Park, Chembur, Mumbai - 400 171.

Sri Banerjee and Smt Chatterjee got their prizes for the short-stories "The Insect" and "The Search" respectively, both of which were translations from original Bengali stories by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay. Ms Sah got 3rd prize for the story "Ghar : The House" which was a translation from the Hindi original by Sheela Indra

Oral Literature

The prize winners under oral literature category were as follows :-

1st Prize : Subrata Basu, W2C-10/2 Phase-II, Golf Green, Kolkata 700 0952nd Prize : Nila Shah "(Shri Jasani Arts & Commerce College)", Shyam, 3/45, Jankalyan Society, Rajkot - 360 0013rd Prize : Shweta Rao, "Research Scholar", Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Roorkee, Uttarakhand 247 667.

Consolation Prizes

Besides the above, five consolation prizes were given away under each category as follows :- (1) "Poetry" : B S Rajkumar, Kuldip Sahil, Anupam Bhattacharjee, K Damodar Rao and Syed Kabeer Ahmed (2) "Fiction" : Somadatta Mandal, Ravi Baswani, Parthasarathi Chakrabarti, Bimala Balakrishnan and Rani Motwani (3) "Oral Literature" : A K Srivastava, Joysree Das, Shyamal Chakrabarti, V Ayothi and Anuja Mohan Pradhan.

Commendation Prizes

One hundred and eighteen other participants were selected for special mention for their outstanding translation work. These participants were awarded with free subscription to Indian Literature (journal) for one year. Their entries will be published in the forthcoming issues of "Indian Literature" during the year 2008.

Samakaleen Bharatiya Sahitya

Like the Indian Literature in English, the Sahitya Akademi has also a literary journal in Hindi (the official language of India) which is also bi-monthly. The title of this journal is "Samakaleen Bharatiya Sahitya" [http://www.sahitya-akademi.gov.in/sahitya-akademi/pub3.htm] which started first in July 1980 as a quarterly journal. The journal is approximately 200 pages long, and . It has promoted numerous upcoming authors - often publishing them for the first time. A large section is devoted to new books published in Hindi, including books from other languages translated into Hindi. Readers' critical responses are also included.

References

[See the website of the Sahitya Akademi] : http://www.sahitya-akademi.gov.in/sahitya-akademi/index.htm

[See Indian Literature] : http://www.sahitya-akademi.gov.in/sahitya-akademi/pub3.htm

See also

*Sahitya Akademi Awards
*Indian Literature

External links

*Sahitya Akademi Fellowship
*Jnanpith Award
*Sahitya Akademi Award to Bengali Writers
*List of winners of Sahitya Akademi Awards for writing in Rajasthani language
*Sahitya Akademi Award to Assamese Writers