Assamese poet Nilmani Phookan Jr won the 56th Jnanpith Award and Konkani novelist Damodar Mauzo, who hails from Goa, won the 57th Jnanpith Award for “their outstanding contribution to literature”.

Phookan is the third recipient of the Jnanpith Award from Assam after Birendranath Bhattacharya and Mamoni (Indira) Raisom Goswami. A Padma Shri and Sahitya Akademi awardee, Phukan had also received the Sahitya Akademi fellowship. Among his well-known books are ‘Surya Heno Nami Ahe Ei Nadiyedi’ (The Sun Comes Descending By This River), ‘Phuli Thaka Suryamukhi Phulor Phale’ (Towards The Blooming Sunflower), ‘Kabita’ (collected poems). He has also authored several books on art. A retired college professor, he was also awarded D.Litt by Dibrugarh University in 2019.

Mauzo, 77, is the second Konkani writer to receive the Jnanpith. Ravindra Kelekar had won the 42nd Jnanpith award for 2006. Mauzo has written novels, short stories and screenplays. Mauzo has been honoured with the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983 for his novel ‘Karmelin’ and has received many other literary and cultural prizes. His books have been translated into several Indian languages. His works include novels titled ‘Sood’, ‘Tsunami Simon’, and short stories titled ‘These Are My Children’ and ‘Teresa’s Man and Other Stories from Goa’.

Jnanpith Award

• Jnanpith Award is regarded as the most prestigious literary award in India. A special feature of this award is that it is not confined to a particular language. It encompasses all Indian languages included in the Eighth Schedule of Indian Constitution and English.

• Instituted in 1961, the award is presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith to an author for their “outstanding contribution towards literature”.

• The first recipient of the award was Malayalam poet G. Sankara Kurup, who received the award in 1965 for his collection of poems Odakkuzhal.

• Malayalam poet Akkitham Achuthan Nampoothiri has won the Jnanpith Award in 2019. Amitav Ghosh received the award in 2018. Ghosh is the first writer in English to win the prestigious award.

The process of selection

• There is an advisory committee for each language, consisting of three eminent scholars or critics, which scans the proposals received.

• Recommendations of various committees are screened and evaluated by the Jnanpith Award Selection Board, consisting of eminent scholars and writers.

• Only those creative writers, who are alive and are Indian citizens, can be proposed for the Award.

• A language which receives the Award in a particular year is not eligible for consideration for the next two years.

• The selection board takes into account the totality of an author’s creative writing and its literary merit in the context of contemporary Indian writing.

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