A legend in his own right, Goa's prolific Konkani writer Damodar Mauzo will be presented the Jnanpith award on May 27 at the Raj Bhavan by the Governor of Goa P S Sreedharan Pillai.
Special guest Gulzar, an internationally acclaimed Urdu poet, author, lyricist, and filmmaker, will grace this 57th Jnanpith award ceremony, where Goa's Minister for Cultural Affairs, Govind Gaude, will be the guest of honour.
Justice Virendra Jain, President of the Bharatiya Jnanpith, and Pratibha Ray, Chairperson of the Selection Board, will be present on the occasion, besides several other luminaries from the fields of literature, art, theatre and cinema.
The national-level ceremony is going to be held by Bharatiya Jnanpith in collaboration with the Directorate of Art & Culture, the Government of Goa and the KLJ Group.
Seventy-nine-year-old Damodar Mauzo, whose works have received critical acclaim was honoured with the award in 2021. Mauzo is a noted novelist, short story writer, critic and scriptwriter from with a number of books to his credit.
Karmelin, his Sahitya Akademi-winning (1983) Konkani novel, has created a record of sorts in the field of Indian literature. It has been translated into 14 Indian languages and four translations into Marathi, Gujarati, Sindhi and Maithili have also won the Sahitya Akademi translation awards.
Karmelin, his Sahitya Akademi-winning (1983) Konkani novel, has created a record of sorts in the field of Indian literature. It has been translated into 14 Indian languages and four translations into Marathi, Gujarati, Sindhi and Maithili have also won the Sahitya Akademi translation awards.
Born on August 1, 1944, in Goa, Mauzo did his early schooling up to primeiro grau in Portuguese, with primary schooling in Marathi. He graduated in Commerce from R A Podar College of Commerce & Economics in Mumbai.
Many of his short stories have been translated into several Indian languages as also in English, Portuguese and French. Teresa’s Man, a collection of short stories, was nominated for the Frank O’Connor International Award in the year 2015.
Winner of several literary awards that include the Sahitya Akademi Award, Katha Award, V V Pai Sahitya Puraskar, State Cultural Award, etc, Mauzo has recently been conferred the Basava Vibhushan Award 2023 by the Basava Samiti, Bangalore, Karnataka.
He is the co-founder and co-curator of the Goa Arts and Literature Festival and a founding member of PEN-South India, an International writers' collective.
Mauzo is the co-founder and co-curator of the Goa Arts and Literature Festival and a founding member of PEN-South India, an International writers' collective.
Bharatiya Jnanpith was founded in 1944 by Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain and the late Rama Jain. Jnanpith Award, instituted by this philanthropic couple, has gradually emerged as the highest literary award in the country and thus far Jnanpith has been conferred on 62 laureates, including Damodar Mauzo.
This is the second time a Konkani author has received the Jnanpith Award. The first recipient was the legendary Ravindra Kelekar.
The award presentation ceremony is open to all. However, those intersted in attending must register themselves by filling out a Google form, and they need to carry their identity proof to the venue. The Google form to register is as follows: https://forms.gle/bhUY6wV7wQMBubRE9
A bus has been arranged from Margao and Canacona to travel to Raj Bhavan. Those who wish to travel by this bus may contact 9765661189 (Sagar) for Margao and 9923534647 (Sajjan) for Canacona.
For any further information about the programme, one may contact 9923442746 (Anwesha).