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4mo ago

Tamil Nadu Launches Semmozhi Literary Award for Seven Languages

Tamil Nadu casts the prize as a safeguard for literary autonomy following the Centre’s intervention in the Sahitya Akademi awards.

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Overview

  • Chief Minister M.K. Stalin announced the state‑patronized award on January 18 at the Chennai International Book Fair’s valedictory session in Chennai.
  • The prize will initially honor works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Bengali and Marathi, with Rs 5 lakh awarded for each language.
  • The government will serve as patron, while independent committees of reputed writers—one for each language—will select the awardees to ensure transparency.
  • Stalin framed the move as a response to December’s halted Sahitya Akademi awards, which he attributed to Union Culture Ministry intervention that stopped the announcement minutes before a scheduled briefing.
  • The book fair spotlighted translation and copyright exchanges, with participation from over 100 countries and reports of more than 1,800 MoUs to move works between Tamil and other languages.