Noted Kashmiri poetess Naseem Shafaie has been chosen for this year's Sahitya Akademi awards for her poetic collection, becoming the first Kashmiri woman to get the prestigious literary award.
Her poetic collection titled 'Na Thsay Na Aks' (Neither shadow nor reflection) has been listed for this year's Sahitya Akademi Award in Kashmiri literature, the announcement for which was made in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The award function will be held in New Delhi on February 14 next year.
The Awards, considered to be the highest award in the field of literature, contain an engraved cooper plaque, a shawl and a cheque of Rs 1 lakh.
This is the second award for 'Na Thsaay Na Aks'. In 2009, it was chosen for the first ever Tagore Award, jointly sponsored by the Sahitya Akademi and Samsung Electronics in collaboration with the South Korean government.
'Na Thsay Na Aks', which represents modern sensibility on the poetic scene in Kashmir, was released in 2008 and is second poetic collection of the poet. Her earlier poetic collection 'Derche Machrith (Open windows)' was released in 1999.
Many of her poems, including the ones that depict the suppressed atmosphere of turbulent Kashmir, have been translated into different languages including English, Urdu, Kannada, Tamil, Marathi and Telugu.
Born in 1952 in Srinagar in an educated middle class family, Shafaie did her post graduation in Kashmiri language and literature from University of Kashmir.
{{/usCountry}}Born in 1952 in Srinagar in an educated middle class family, Shafaie did her post graduation in Kashmiri language and literature from University of Kashmir.
{{/usCountry}}In 1984, she joined the higher education department of Jammu and Kashmir Government and since then has been teaching Kashmiri language at graduation level.