Bhubaneswar: June 01:Noted Poet Ramakanta Rath will be honoured with Atibadi Jagannath Das Award for 2018, highest literary award of the State. The prestigious award will be given to Sri Rath for his contribution to Odiya Literature. The decision regarding the award was taken on Saturday at a meeting presided over by President of Odisha Sahitya Akademi Harihar Mishra. The award will be presented to Rath at a function to be organised by Odisha Sahitya Akademi.
Ramakanta Rath has written many popular books which include ‘Kete Dinara’, ‘Sachitra Andhara’, ‘Aneka Kothari’, ‘Saptama Rutu’, ‘Sandigdha Mrugaya’, ‘Pheri Chahinle’ and ‘Sri Radha’. He has also translated the poems of Kabir. Many of his poems have been translated into English and other Indian Languages.
He is a recipient of the Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award, Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award, Saraswati Samman, Bishuva Samman and Kabir Samman. He has also received country’s third highest civilian honour, the Padma Bhushan in 2006.
He was the vice president of the Sahitya Academy from 1993 to 1998 and the president of the Sahitya Akademi from 1998 to 2003 in New Delhi.
The Odisha Sahitya Akademi will also felicitate 15 renowned writers of the State including Managobind Mahasupakar, Satyanarayan Rath, Srikumar Chakraborty, Sitaram Bartia, Pratima Mishra, Bansidhar Sahu, Bijay Chandra Jena, Sankarsan Mangaraj, Laxmidhar Nayak, Duryodhan Das, Kumja Bihari Padhi, Prafulla Kumar Das, Sarojini Sarangi, Giri Dandsena and Braja Mohan Mishra.
