BHUBANESWAR: Eminent litterateur Pratibha Ray has been conferred the prestigious fellowship by the Sahitya Akademi along with two other acclaimed writers Lakhmi Khilani and Abdus Samad.
The Sahitya Akademi announced the fellowships following a meeting of its general council held on March 30, a press release said on Tuesday.
The Sahitya Akademi Fellowship is the highest literary honour conferred by the institution. It is considered a rare distinction, reserved for writers who have made outstanding contributions to Indian literature.
A Padma Bhushan awardee and an acclaimed academician, Ray is one of Odisha’s most illustrious writers with more than 50 works to her credit. Over her long career, she has received several honours, including the Jnanpith and Sahitya Akademi awards.
In the last 20 years, the Sahitya Akademi Fellowships have been conferred on Jayanta Mahapatra (2019), Sitakanta Mahapatra (2013), Ramakanta Rath (2009) and Prof Manoj Das (2006). The Akademi confers its highest honour on a writer by electing him/her as its Fellow and it is reserved for the ‘immortals of literature’ and limited to 21 only at any given time.
Among other Fellows, Khilani is a prominent Sindhi fiction writer, playwright and translator who has authored over two dozen books and numerous articles. He is also a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Akademi’s Prize for Translation.
Samad is an eminent Urdu writer and poet who has more than two dozen published works. His accolades include the Sahitya Akademi Award, Ghalib Award and Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad Award.
The Akademi said the Fellowship will be formally conferred at a ceremony to be held at a later date.