Bengaluru, 22 Mar,

Illustrious Hindi writer Vinod Kumar Shukla (88) was awarded the 59th Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary honour, on 22 March. He will be the 12th Hindi writer and the first from Chhattisgarh to receive the award. His works include several short stories, poems and essays.

The award carries a cash prize of Rs 11 lakh, a bronze statue of Goddess Saraswati, the goddess of learning, and a citation. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Jnanpith selection committee, chaired by another storyteller and Jnanpith award winner Pratibha Ray.

"Vinod Kumar Shukla will be the first author from the state of Chhattisgarh to be honoured with this award. This honour is being conferred upon him for his outstanding contribution to Hindi literature, creativity and distinctive writing style," the committee said in a statement. Other members of the selection committee present at the meeting included Madhav Kaushik, Damodar Mauzo, Prabha Varma, Anamika, A Krishna Rao, Praful Shiledar, Janaki Prasad Sharma and Jnanpith director Madhusudan Anand.

Born on 1 January 1937 in Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, Shukla chose teaching as his profession and focused his entire attention on literary creation. He completed his M.Sc. in Agriculture from Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwavidyalaya (JNKVV) in Jabalpur. Since then he has been known for his distinctive linguistic texture and emotional depth, winning the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1999 for his book "Deewar Mein Ek Khidki Rehte Thi". Shukla's other notable works include "Naukar Ki Kameez" (1979), a novel that was adapted into a film by Mani Kaul, and a poetry collection "Sab Kuch Hona Baki Rahega" (1992).

Vinod Kumar Shukla's poems have been widely translated. In 2015, Delhi-based author Akhil Katyal translated Shukla's 'Hatasha se ek vyakti baith gaya' into English:

Desperate, a man sat down,

I didn't know him,

I knew desperation,

so I went close to him

and reached out my hand –

holding it, he stood up,

he didn't know me, he knew

my reaching out the hand,

from there, we walked together,

neither of us knew the other –

both knew walking together.

The Jnanpith Award, instituted in 1961, was first given in 1965 to Malayalam poet G. Shankara Kurup for this anthology of poems "Odakkuzhal". Nominations for the award are received from various literary experts, teachers, critics, universities and various literary and linguistic associations. An advisory committee is constituted for each language every three years. It is given only to Indian authors.