On 29th November 2019, Akkitham Achuthan Namboodri, a renowned Malayalam poet has been chosen for the 55th Jnanpith Award 2019 in accordance to the Jnanpith Selection Board. He is also the 6th Malayalam Poet to receive the Jnanpith award. He was born in Kumaranellur, Kerala. The Jnanpith award is the Highest Literary award in India, awarded to an author to acknowledge his/her excellence in Literature.Key Points:
i.Other awards received by Akkitham Achutham Namboodri:
- Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for poetry – 1971
- Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award – 1973
- Lalitambika Sahitya Award – 1996
- Padma Shri – 2017
- Jnanapeetham – 2019
ii.Akkitham is the author of 55 books which includes 45 poetry and other genres like Drama, Reminiscence, Short stories, Essays, Children Literatures and Translations.
About Jnanpith Award:
i.The Jnanpith award comprises of Rs.11 lakh cash prize and a bronze replica of Saraswati. The award is presented to literary works in any of the 22 languages included in the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution like Hindi, Kanada, Bengali, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Odia, Telugu, Assamese, Urdu, Punjabi, Tamil, English, Kashmiri, Konkani and Sanskrit.
Awarded for- Excellence in Literature
First Awarded- 1965
First Winner- G. Sankara Kurup
Last Winner- Akkitham Achutham
Award Financed By- Bharatiya Jnanpith.