BHUBANESWAR: Poet Gayatribala Panda received the Central Sahitya Akademi Award for the year 2022 at New Delhi on Saturday.She received the prestigious award for her book of poetry ‘Daya Nadi’. The book is about the Kalinga war which was fought on the foothills of Dhauli, located on the banks of Daya river.
It has been translated into Hindi as well. She received a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh, a copper plaque, a shawl which were given away at the event by Akademi president Madhav Kaushik. She has so far authoured 25 books that include 12 collections of poems, two collections of short stories, four novels and one collection of essays.
She also edits a literary magazine ‘Anya’. She is also the recipient of first Kendra Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar in Odia for her poetry collection ‘Gaan’ in 2011. The ceremony also marked beginning of Akademi’s literary festival, Festival of Letters.