Indian literature refers to the literature produced on the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and in the Republic of India thereafter. The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India has 22 officially recognised languages. Sahitya Akademi, India's highest literary body, also has 24 recognised literary languages.
The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of the Indian government. Its office is located in Rabindra Bhavan near Mandi House in Delhi.
Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay was an Indian novelist who wrote in the Bengali language. He wrote 65 novels, 53-story-books, 12 plays, 4 essay-books, 4 autobiographies, 2 travel stories and composed several songs. He was awarded Rabindra Puraskar, Sahitya Akademi Award, Jnanpith Award, Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan. He was nominated for Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971 and posthumously nominated in 1972.
Bengali literature denotes the body of writings in the Bengali language and which covers Old Bengali, Middle- Bengali and Modern Bengali with the changes through the passage of time and dynastic patronization or non-patronization. Bengali has developed over the course of roughly 1,300 years. If the emergence of the Bengali literature supposes to date back to roughly 650 AD, the development of Bengali literature claims to be 1600 years old. The earliest extant work in Bengali literature is the Charyapada, a collection of Buddhist mystic songs in Old Bengali dating back to the 10th and 11th centuries. The timeline of Bengali literature is divided into three periods: ancient (650–1200), medieval (1200–1800) and modern. Medieval Bengali literature consists of various poetic genres, including Hindu religious scriptures, Islamic epics, Vaishnava texts, translations of Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit texts, and secular texts by Muslim poets. Novels were introduced in the mid-19th century. Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore is the best known figure of Bengali literature to the world. Kazi Nazrul Islam, notable for his activism and anti-British literature, was described as the Rebel Poet and is now recognised as the National poet of Bangladesh.
Pratibha Ray is an Indian academic and writer of Odia-language novels and stories. For her contribution to the Indian literature, Ray received the Jnanpith Award in 2011. She was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2022.
Amritlal Nagar was one of the prominent Hindi writers of the twentieth century.
Chandra Prakash Deval is a Rajasthani poet and translator. He is also the convener of Rajasthani Advisory Council of Sahitya Akademi.
Bhuvana Natarajan was an Indian translator and short story writer. She published over 20 books and in 2009 was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize for translation from Bengali to Tamil. Many of her short stories have appeared in Kalki, Mangaiyar Malar, Saavi, Sumangali, Jnana Bhoomi, Idhayam Pesugiraday and Gokulam. She was able to read, write and converse in Tamil, Bengali, Hindi, English and had working knowledge of Sanskrit. She lived in Calcutta for over 43 years and later in Chennai.
Bankim Puraskar is the highest award given by the Government of West Bengal for contribution to Bengali fiction. The award was instituted in 1975 in memory of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, a famous Bengali novelist of the 19th century. It has been brought under the aegis of Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi, functioning under the Department of Information & Cultural Affairs, in 2003. The award is handed over by the Chief Minister of West Bengal.
Ramanlal Pitambardas Soni, also known by his pen name Sudamo, was a children's writer, translator, and social worker from Gujarat, India. He authored primarily in Gujarati language.
Bholabhai Patel was an Indian Gujarati author. He taught numerous languages at Gujarat University and did comparative studies of literature in different languages. He translated extensively and wrote essays and travelogues. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2008.
Dr. Dinesh Chandra Goswami is an Assamese writer and winner of the Sahitya Akademi's Bal Sahitya Puraskar for 2014.
Nagindas Narandas Parekh was a Gujarati language critic, editor and translator from India. He is also known by his pen name, Granthkeet.
Anila Amrutlal Dalal is Gujarati critic and translator.
Gadul Singh Lama, popularly known as Sanu Lama, is an Indian fiction writer, poet and translator of Nepali literature. An engineer by profession, he has published three short story anthologies and his stories have been translated into English, Hindi, Urdu, Assamese and Oriya languages. He is a recipient of Sahitya Akademi Award (1993), apart from other awards such as Sikkim Bhanu Puraskar, Dr. Shova Kanti Thegim Smrithi Puraskar and Madan Byakhanmala Puraskar. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2005, for his contributions to literature.
The Yuva Puraskar, also known as Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar, is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on young writers of outstanding works in one of the 24 major Indian languages. Instituted in 2011, it recognises young writers under 35, with the aim of encouraging and promoting young writers. It comprises a cash prize of Rs. 50,000 and an engraved copper plaque.
Rabindranath Murmu is an Indian Santali language writer from Jharkhand. He won Sahitya Akademi Award for Santali Translation in 2012.
Joba Murmu is an Indian writer and litterateur who is known for her works in Santali literature. She received the Sahitya Akademi's Children's Literature Award on November 14, 2017 due to her language contribution to Santali literature.
The Bal Sahitya Puraskar also known as Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puraskar,is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers for their contribution in the field of Children's literature in any of the 22 languages of the 8th Schedule to the Indian constitution as well as in English and Rajasthani language. Instituted in 2010, it comprises a cash prize of Rs. 50,000 and an engraved copper plaque.
