‘Abhipreta Kala’, an Odia-language novel, nominated for the ‘Bank of Baroda Rashtrabhasha Samman’ Awards
- The Award recognizes literary works in Indian languages & the translation of these into Hindi, and will be presented to both the original author and the translator
- Renowned Author and Booker Prize winner Ms. Geetanjali Shree is the Chairperson of the 5-member jury
Bhubaneswar: Bank of Baroda (Bank), one of India’s leading public sector banks, announced the list of 12 nominations for the first edition of the “Bank of Baroda Rashtrabhasha Samman” Awards 2023 on 24.05.2023. The Odia Novel ‘Abhipreta Kala’ is among the list of 12 novels nominated for the award. The unique award has been instituted to recognize and promote literary works in various Indian languages (included under the 8th Schedule of the Constitution) as well as to make the best Indian literature available to Hindi readers through translations, thereby broadening the interest and making the novels accessible to a larger set of readers.
The ‘Bank of Baroda Rashtrabhasha Samman’ Award will be presented to both the author of the original work and the translator of the book in to Hindi. The author of the original work and the respective Hindi translator of the award-winning book will receive Rs. 21.00 lakh and Rs. 15.00 lakh respectively. Moreover, the authors and the Hindi translators of the next five shortlisted books will receive Rs. 3.00 lakh and Rs. 2.00 lakh each respectively.
At AN event organised in Bhubaneswar today, Mrs. Paramita Satpathy, the original author and Mr. Ajoy Kumar Patnaik, the translator, of the nominated book ‘Abhipreta Kala’ participated in a panel discussion with Mr. Debadatta Chand Executive Director, Bank of Baroda. The two writers conversed on the Indian literature landscape and the significance of the Rashtrabhasha Samman award for the literary fraternity across India.
‘Abhipreta Kala’ tells the story of the contribution of those known and unknown people who empowered India’s freedom struggle in their own way. The novel is based on the latter part of the freedom movement in Odisha. The author narrates historic events of that time through fictional characters and gives a vivid description of the sacrifices people made walking on the path of Gandhian Philosophy.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Debadatta Chand, Executive Director, Bank of Baroda said, “The objective of “Bank of Baroda Rashtrabhasha Samman” initiated by the Bank is to recognize and honour the best novels written in a variety of Indian languages and their literary translation in Hindi. This Award will provide a major boost to Indian language literature and seeks to give national recognition to regional language novels. The Award underlines the importance of India’s cultural and literary diversity and will further enrich the languages of our country.”
The five-member awards jury is chaired by renowned author and Booker Prize winner Ms. Geetanjali Shree. The other four jury members are Mr. Arun Kamal, an Indian poet; Mr. Pushpesh Pant, an academician and food critic; Ms. Anamika, a contemporary Indian poet and novelist; and Mr. Prabhat Ranjan, a Hindi fiction writer and translator.
The Bank had initiated the process of inviting nominations during the period March-April 2023 and received several entries written in different Indian languages, from which the jury prepared a list of 12 books.
The winner of the ‘Bank of Baroda Rashtrabhasha Samman’ Award will be announced 11th June, 2023 in Delhi.
