E-Paper
Tamil writer Sivasankari to be awarded Saraswati Samman for memoir ‘Surya Vamsam’
Tamil writer Sivasankari will be awarded the Saraswati Samman 2022 for her 2019 memoir Surya Vamsam, the KK Birla Foundation announced on Wednesday.
Tamil writer Sivasankari will be awarded the Saraswati Samman 2022 for her 2019 memoir Surya Vamsam, the KK Birla Foundation announced on Wednesday.
The Saraswati Samman is one of the three literary awards instituted by the foundation in 1991. It is the highest recognition in the field of Indian literature in the country and carries a cash prize of ₹15 lakh, a plaque and a citation.
Sivasankari’s literary career spans over five decades. She is the author of 36 novels, 48 novellas, 150 short stories, 15 travelogues, seven collections of essays and three biographies, including one on former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
In a statement, the foundation said that the memoir, Surya Vamsam, which means daughter of a blazing sun, is unique among all of Sivasankari’s works. It reads like an account of a journey of a celebratory writer and excels in establishing an intimate and emotional bond with the readers.
Besides Surya Vamsam, Sivasankari’s four volume ‘Knit India Through Literature’ is one of her greatest contributions to Indian literature. It presents the outlook of literary legends in 18 languages through various interviews and insights through their stories.
Many of Sivasankari’s works have been translated into several Indian languages, and in English, Japanese and Ukrainian. Eight of her novels have been made into films and directed by renowned directors. Her novel ‘Kutti’ on girl child labour, filmed by director Janaki Viswanathan, won the national as well regional ‘Best Mega Serial’ awards.
The author was invited under the International Writers Program and the International Visitors Program in 1986 by lowa University in the US. She is among four writers whose works were recorded in their own voices for the Archives of US Library Congress to mark its bicentennial celebrations.
The Saraswati Samman is given every year for an outstanding literary work written in any Indian language by an Indian citizen in the last 10 years preceding the specified Samman year. The recipient is chosen by the Chayan Parishad under the chairmanship of former Supreme Court judge Arjan Kumar Sikri that comprises outstanding scholars and writers of the country.
Besides the Saraswati Samman, the Bihari Puraskar and the Vyas Samman are other literary awards instituted by the foundation.
