18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Children need rich and deep literature, not childish: Hindi writer Sushil Shukla
New Delhi, Hindi writer Sushil Shukla on Wednesday expressed gratitude for being named the winner for Sahitya Akademi's Bal Sahitya Puraskar and said that today children need rich and deep literature, not childish.
Shukla, along with 23 others, has been named the winner for the prestigious children's literature award.
"We should try that children's literature, stories, poems should not remain only for children. Its subject should be such that people of every age can communicate with them," Shukla told PTI Bhasha over the phone from Bhopal.
He added that the winning story collection "Ek Batey Barah" has been written in such a way that readers of every age feel connected to it and return with different meanings for themselves.
Shukla, who has been associated with children's literature for the last 18 years, is the director of Ektara, Takshila's Children's Literature and Art Center, and is also the co-editor of two children's magazines - "Pluto" and "Cycle".
Talking about the award, he appreciated that the academy has established an award "in a somewhat ignored area like children's literature".
"This is an award for the thought that rich and deep literature is necessary for children and not childish literature," he added.
The editor of "Chakmak", Shukla was awarded the "Harikrishna Devasare Bal Sahitya Award" for "Ek Batey Barah" in 2024.
Hindi tribal poet Parvati Tirkey has been named the recipient for the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar.
"Kaavya Karma is actually an attempt to communicate through poems and I am happy that this dialogue has been honoured," she said.
Tirkey, who hails from the Kudukh tribal community of Jharkhand, will receive the award for her poetry collection "Phir Ugna".
"Phir Ugna" is Tirkey's first poetry work, which was published by Radhakrishna Prakashan in the year 2023.
The poems of this collection are "written in simple, truthful and sensitive language, which feels like a direct dialogue to the reader".
In these poems, the earth, trees, birds, moon, stars and forests are not mere symbols - they are present within the poem as a living world.
Tirkey makes the experiences of tribal life a part of her poems while underlining the ongoing tension between the pressure of modern civilisation and the will to live of the tribal culture.
The awardees will receive a cash prize of ₹50,000 along with a copper-plaque at a special ceremony on a later date.
