Sananta Tanti wins Sahitya Akademi Award 2018

Sahitya Akademi announced its annual Sahitya Akademi Awards in 24 languages today. Winning for his collection of poetry,  Sananta Tanti has been selected for the award in the Assamese language.

Tanti was born in Kalinagar Tea Estate in Karimganj district of Assam, in 1952, to a family of tea garden workers who originally migrated from Odisha. He started his education in the Bengali before shifting to the Assamese during his studies at the Dibrugarh University.   He retired as deputy provident fund commissioner from Assam Tea Employee PF Organisation.

Starting his poetic journey in the 1970s, Tanti's poetry uses contemporary themes like corruption in public life, unemployment, poverty, hunger and frustrations, among others.

The awards were recommended by jury members representing 24 Indian languages and approved by the Executive board of the Sahutya Akademi which met today under the Chairmanship of Sahitya Akademi President Chandrashekhar Kambar.

The award in the form of a casket containing an engraved copper-plaque, a shawl and a cheque of Rs 1,00,000 will be presented to the winners at a special function to be held on January 29, 2019 at New Delhi during the Festival of Letters organised by Sahiya Akademi.