Shashi Tharoor wins Sahitya Akademi Award for 'An Era of Darkness'
Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor has been given the Sahitya Akademi Award for the year 2019 in English language. Tharoor has been awarded for his non-fiction 'An Era of Darkness:The British Empire in India'. The book was published in 2016. In a press release, the Sahitya Akademi announced its its annual Sahitya Akademi Awards in 23 languages. Shashi Tharoor was one of the winners in the list. He won for his work in creative non-fiction in English language.
Shashi Tharoor's book talks about the effect of British rule in India and how the colonizers exploited the country.
According to the release, seven books of poetry, four of novel, six of short stories, three of essays and one each of non-fiction, autobiography and biography have won the Sahitya Akademi Awards 2019.
Seven books of poetry were awarded to Dr. Phukan Ch. Basumatary (Bodo), Dr. Nand Kishore Acharya (Hindi), Sri Nilba A. Khandekar (Konkani), Sri Kumar Manish Arvind (Maithili), Sri V. Madhusoodanan Nair (Malayalam), Smt. Anuradha Patil (Marathi) and Prof. Penna Madhusudan (Sanskrit). Four novels were awarded to Dr. Joysree Goswami Mahanta (Assamese), Sri L. Birmangol Singh (Beryl Thanga) (Manipuri), Sri Cho. Dharman (Tamil) and Sri Bandi Narayana Swamy (Telugu).
Six books of short stories were awarded to Sri Abdul Ahad Hajini (Kashmiri), Sri Tarun Kanti Mishra (Odia), Sri Kirpal Kazak (Punjabi), Sri Ramsawroop Kisan (Rajasthani), Sri Kali Charan Hembram (Santali) and Sri Ishwar Moorjani (Sindhi). Dr. Shashi Tharoor (English), Dr. Vijaya (Kannada) and Prof. Shafey Kidwai (Urdu) have won for each of their works on creative non-fiction, autobiography and biography respectively. Three books of essays were awarded to Dr. Chinmoy Guha (Bengali), Sri Om Sharma Jandriari (Dogri) and Sri Ratilal Borisagar (Gujarati).
The awards, comprises an engraved copper plaque, a shawl and Rs 100,000 in cash, will be given away on Feburary 25, 2020 during the Akademi's Festival of Letters.
