[1]Renowned Malayalam poet Akkitham Namboodiri, who received the Tagore Literature Award here on Tuesday, said that his first published poem at the age of 12 was titled ‘Tagore’.
Interacting with the media before receiving the award instituted by the Kendra Sahitya Akademi and Samsung India, he said it was an honour to receive the Tagore award. The award was presented by Union Minister Veerappa Moily at a function attended by poet O.N.V. Kurup, writer M.P. Veerendra Kumar and Samsung Electronics CEO B.D. Park.
Among those who received the award were Sheela Kolambkar (Konkani), Jagadish Prasad Mandal (Maithili), N. Kunjamohan Singh (Manipuri), Indramani Darnal (Nepali) and Arjan Hasad (Sindhi).
This was the third edition of the award covering eight Indian languages. With this, 24 languages had been covered, according to Akademi secretary A.K. Murthy.
“Akkitham has made Malayalam proud by bringing the Tagore award to Malayalam for the first time,” poet ONV said.
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[1] http://archive.asianage.com/sahithya-1jpgcropdisplayjpg-615