NEW DELHI: Literary critic the late K P Appan has been selected for the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award for the year 2008. This was announced by the Akademi secretary here on Tuesday.
The award consists of a casket containing an engraved copper plaque and a cheque of Rs 50,000.
In all, seven books of novels, six of poetry, five books of short stories, two of criticism and one of essays have won the awards. K P Appan has been honoured for his book of essays “Madhuram Ninte Jeevitham”.
The book is a collection of essays which are metaphorical representation of Virgin Mary in literature.He is recognised as a man who gave a new dimension to the branch of literary criticism in Malayalam. He passed away on December 15, 2008.
The novel “Halla Bantu Halla” by Srinivasa Vaidya from Kannada, collection of short stories “Minsarapoo” by Melanmai Ponnusamy from Tamil, the poetry collection “Asaranti Anasara” by Pramod Kumar Mohanty from Oriya and the novel “Ghanagai Niyatiche” by Ashok Kamat in Konkani have received the Akademi awards in their respective languages. The awards will be presented here at a special function to be held on February 17, 2009.