Sahitya Akademi announces the names of Yuva Puraskar winners 2024.
On Saturday, the Sahitya Akademi announced the names of 23 writers, including English author K Vaishali and Hindi author Gaurav Pandey, who will receive the prestigious Yuva Puraskar in various languages. The National Akademi of Letters also revealed the 24 winners of the Bal Sahitya Puraskar for 2024. The winner of the Yuva Puraskar in Sanskrit will be announced at a later date, according to a statement from the Akademi.
“The Executive Board of the Sahitya Akademi, in its meeting today chaired by President Sri Madhav Kaushik, approved the selection of 23 writers. These selections were based on recommendations from a jury of three members for each language, following the rules and procedures established for this purpose,” the literary body stated.
K Vaishali will be honoured for her memoir “Homeless: Growing up Lesbian and Dyslexic in India,” while Gaurav Pandey will receive the award for his poetry collection “Smritiyon Ke Beech Ghiri Hai Prithvi.”
The Yuva Puraskar has been awarded for 10 poetry books, seven collections of short stories, two collections of articles, one collection of essays, one novel, one book of ghazals, and one memoir.
Each Yuva Puraskar awardee will receive a casket containing an engraved copper plaque and a cheque for Rs 50,000 at an upcoming awards ceremony.
About the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar winning book- Homeless by K Vaishali
After discovering she’s lesbian and dyslexic at 20, Vaishali begins to untangle her anxieties around reading and writing. She comes out to her mother at 22 and leaves her Bombay home to make her own way. In a dingy, insect-ridden yet rent-free hostel room in Hyderabad with a door that doesn’t quite close, she tries to make the best of the situation by writing a book about her experiences.
As she writes, she finds the past has a way of catching up with her, even as she explores her dyslexia, homosexuality, and the clitoris; falling in love and recovering from a harrowing breakup; academic failure, loneliness, and homophobia; living with sickness, anxiety, depression, and her caste, gender, and body. This is the story of Vaishali’s relationship with her many truths and the truths of many young people in India.
Note: We are thrilled to have been working with Vaishali on the marketing for Homeless since May 2023.
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