Author Amitav
Ghoshwas conferred the 54th Jnanpith Award. He
was awarded for his contribution to the enrichment
of Indian literature in English at a ceremony. The award
was presented by the former governor of West Bengal Gopalkrishna Gandhi in
New Delhi on 13 June. Amitav Ghosh is the first
English writer to get this prestigious Jnanpith
Award
Amitav
Ghosh:
Amitav Ghosh is an Indian writer. He
is best known for his work in English fiction. In 2007, the government of India
awarded him the civilian honour
of Padma Shri. He also received the Israeli Dan David
Prize, together
with Margaret Atwood.
His
works and awards:
His book, The Circle of Reason won the Prix Médicis étranger which
is France’s top literary awards.
His work ‘The Calcutta Chromosome’ won
the Arthur C.
Clarke Award for 1997.
Also, his work ‘Sea of Poppies’ was
shortlisted for the 2008
Man Booker Prize.
The book ‘River
of Smoke’ was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize 2011.
Jnanpith Award:
The Jnanpith
Award is an Indian
literary award. It was instituted in 1961. The
award was sponsored byBharatiya
Jnanpith, a literary research organization. It is presented
annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith to an author for their outstanding
contribution towards literature. The award is bestowed only on Indian writers who
writes in Indian languages that are included in the Eighth Schedule to the
Constitution of India and English, with no posthumous
conferral.
G.
Sankara Kurup was the first
who received the award
in 1965. The award consists of a citation plaque, a cash
prize of Rs.12 lakh (around), and a bronze replica of Saraswati, the Hindu
goddess of knowledge and wisdom
