Women Writers Sweep Kalinga Literary Awards
NEW DELHI, (IANS) – All four Kalinga Literary Awards for the year 2024 have gone to women writers.
Hindi novelist Nasira Sharma and former assistant secretary-general at the United Nations, Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri, have won the Kalinga Literary Awards.
Nepalese writer Prof. Beena Poudyal has been awarded the Kalinga International Literary Award for her contribution to literature, art, and culture.
Young writer Radhika Iyengar will receive the Kalinga Literary Award (Youth).
The KLF-Publishing House of the Year Award has gone to Penguin Random House and HarperCollins Publishers India.
Nasira Sharma is an acclaimed Hindi writer who has published 10 Hindi-language novels including ‘Parijat’, ‘Mere Priya Kahaniyaan’ and ‘Ajnabi Jajira’.
Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri has been an Indian Foreign Service diplomat for 28 years. She served in leadership positions at the United Nations for 15 years. She is the recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights, among others. Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri’s debut novel is ‘Swallowing The Sun.’
Professor Bina Paudyal lives in Kathmandu, Nepal. In her 40 years of teaching and researching, she has published more than 100 research articles so far in the field of culture, and 19 books, including the history of Nepali culture.
Radhika Iyengar is an Indian journalist, writer, and recipient of the 2018 Red Ink Awards in the category of human rights. After eight years of research on the Dom community of Varanasi, she wrote ‘Fire on the Ganges: Life among the Dead in Banaras’, published in 2023 by HarperCollins India.
