Shobhana Kumar, Sudeep Sen, and Sanjoy K Roy have been awarded the Rabindranath Tagore literary and social awards 2021-2022. Eleven shortlists were in the race for the award. Sudeep Sen won the literary award for his work in ‘Anthropocene: Climate Change, Contagion, Consolation’, a collection of poetry, prose, creative non-fiction, and photography.
Shobhana Kumar won the literary award for her work in ‘A Sky Full of Bucket Lists’, a collection of poems in haibun style.
The Tagore Prize for Social Achievement has been given to Sanjoy K Roy for his contribution towards sustenance and arts. Roy is the producer of the iconic Jaipur Literature festival and 30 other art festivals across the world.
The recipients received the awards during a ceremony at India International Center, where Freddy Svane, Ambassador of Denmark, Deputy Ambassador of Taiwan – Mumin Chen, and others were present.
The Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize is a literary honor in India conferred annually to published works of Indian authors (residing in India or abroad) in novels, short stories, poetry, and drama, originally written in any of Indian official languages and dialects, but translated to English.
The Tagore Prize for Literature has been awarded annually since 2018. The awards are always handed out in December every year. This was the fifth edition.
The winner includes a Rabindranath Tagore statuette and a monetary award of US$5000 and a certificate for all shortlists.
Svane said “The fight for freedom and peace is more important than ever. Poets and writers are often ahead of our times and express our emotions and hope eloquently and honestly. The Tagore Prize is given in this spirit.”
Peter Bundalo, founder and CEO of the Tagore Literary Prize said, “Without social cohesion, poets, writers professors will be nowhere. A legacy is important for a strong India and we through the Tagore prize are making our earnest efforts to recognize the positive and lasting impacts on society and in Indian Literature. ”
Roy, MD Teamwork Arts, said, “Art matters began as an advocacy campaign to highlight the contribution of artists and artisans to our syncretic culture, tradition, and daily life. Since then the campaign has grown to support and sustain the Indian arts sector hugely impacted by Covid-19.”
Sen said “I am delighted that Anthropocene has been awarded the Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize. This book, which coalesced during the pandemic, is essentially a plea for positivity and prayer in these fervent times.
Kumar spoke about the vision that Tagore had for life and living, and education, ahead of her receiving the prize on Monday. Kumar said, “The true purpose of us as artists are not just to become archivers of the world as we experience it, but also as thinkers who question the status quo.”
