Bengali writer and former Union Education Secretary Achala Moulik has won this year’s Sergei Esenin Prize instituted by the Russian Cultural Centre here, the Esenin State Museum, Moscow, and the Russian Embassy’s culture wing.
Moulik has translated various Russian works into Bengali and her play ‘Pushkin’s Last Poem’ has won critical acclaim in India and Russia.
Other works which made her eligible for the annual prize is her collection of articles on Tolstoy and Fydor Dostoevsky, her works on Tolstoy’s relationships with India and Rabindranath Tagore’s Russian experiences. In 2011, the Russian Government had honoured her with the Pushkin Medal.