Stalin announces new literary awards for seven non-Hindi languages

Chennai: Chief Minister M K Stalin on Sunday announced the institution of annual literary awards for seven Indian languages, including Tamil, Bengali, and Marathi, and criticised the Centre for what he described as political intervention in the functioning of the Sahitya Akademi.

The award, to be instituted by the Tamil Nadu government, will carry a cash prize of Rs five lakh and will be known as the Semmozhi Illakiya Virudhu or Classical Language Literary Award.

In the first phase, the awards will be presented for outstanding works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odiya, Bengali, and Marathi. Speaking at the valedictory session of the Chennai International Book Fair 2026, the Chief Minister said the recent cancellation of the Sahitya Akademi awards announcement was disturbing.

Alleging interference by the Union Culture Ministry, he said there was increasing uncertainty around literary honours and warned that political intervention in art and literature was dangerous.

He said several writers and representatives of literary organisations had appealed to him to take constructive steps in response. “We realise that this is the need of the hour, and I would like to make an announcement that will make you all happy,” he said.

Accordingly, the State government would institute national-level awards every year for the best literary works in selected Indian languages. The government would act as a patron, while the selection process would be entrusted to independent experts. Separate committees comprising reputed writers would be constituted for each language to ensure quality and transparency in the selection.

Mr Stalin said the Dravidian model government had taken several initiatives to take knowledge to every household, and that the book fair was an important step in that direction. He added that special importance had been given to translation and copyright exchange at the fair.

Referring to International Booker Prize winner Banu Mushtaq, the Kannada writer present at the event, he said her recognition underlined the importance of translation. Only because her work Heart Lamp was translated into English did it receive global attention, he noted.

“Our book festival has been enriched by the presence of a woman writer from our Dravidian language family, who belongs to a minority community, opposes regressive attitudes and brings a strong perspective of social justice,” he said.

The Chief Minister also released 84 books at the event, including 44 titles from the Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation and 40 titles from the Public Library.

The Chennai International Book Fair is organised by the Tamil Nadu government with the vision of taking Tamil to the world and bringing the world to Tamil through global literary and cultural exchange.