Akademi award for Bilasini Mohanty

Odia writer Bilasini Mohanty is chosen for Sahitya Academy (Translation) Award 2013 in Odia for her translated work ‘Anabruta Andhakar’ – a collection of 50 short stories, written originally in Urdu by Saadat Hassan Manto.

Saadat Hassan Manto is a Pakistani writer known for his boldness. He was tried six times for obscenity.

Bilasini Mohanty lives in New Delhi. Apart from Manto, she has translated works of Albert Camus, Hermann Hesse, Irving Stone and Isaac Bashevis Singer in to Odia.

The Sahitya Akademi has instituted an annual prize for translation from 1989 to be given to outstanding translations in the 24 languages recognised by it. The Translation Prize which carried Rs 10,000 in 1989 was increased to Rs 15,000 in 2001 and is Rs 20,000 from 2003, and is now Rs 50,000 from 2009.