Kendra Sahitya Academy Award for Melwyn Rodrigues, Gopalakrishna Pai

Kendra Sahitya Academy Award for Melwyn Rodrigues, Gopalakrishna Pai

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Dec 21, 2011: The World Konkani Centre has issued a press release stating that Prikrithecho Paas, an anthology of poems by Konkani poet Melwyn Rodrigues, and Swapna Saaraswata, a novel written by senior writer B. Gopalakrishna Pai, have bagged the Kendra Sahithya Academy Awards. 

The Kendra Sahitya Academy will confer the Konkani Sahithya Academy Award on Konkani poet Melwyn Rodrigues, who is also the director (operations) of Daijiworld, and B. Gopalakrishna Pai at an award ceremony, which will be held in New Delhi on Feb 14 – 16.

 

P. Gopalakrishna Pai and Melvyn Rodrigues

The award comprises a plaque and Rs. 1 lakh. Mr. Rodrigues is the second Konkani poet of Mangalore to receive this award. Cha. Fra. D’Costa was the first Mangalorean Konkani poet to receive this award in 1989.

About Melwyn Rodrigues

Melwyn Rodrigues is a Konkani writer, poet, and activist. He has to his credit innumerable poems, translations, essays, short stories, and lyrics. Some of his works are Bhesam Zallim Kalliz (a novelette), Moga Pello (anthology of love poems), Kanni Zali Choli (translation of Yashwanta Chittala’s Kannada short stories), Fintam (anthology of poems), Shabdulim (an anthology of essays), among others.  He is the founder of Kavita Trust and Zage Kavi, the co-founder of Mandd Sobhann, and the founder member of Daiji Dubai. He edits the website www.konkanipoetry.com.

Mr. Rodrigues has won the Dr. T. M. A. Pai Foundation Best Konkani Book Award of 2009 for his “Prikritecho Paas,” the Karnataka Konkani Academy Honorary Award for Literature of 2006, the Konkani Kutam Bahrain Award of 2006, and the Konkani Bhasha Mandal of Goa Award for his book Moga Pello in 1988.

         

About B. Gopalakrishna Pai

B. Gopalakrishna Pai is famous for his movie scripts, short stories, novels, and translations. He also won the national-level award for penning the script of Kanasemba Kudureaneri, a movie by Girish Kasaravalli. Mr. Pai has also written the script and dialogue for Ujwadu, the Konkani movie directed by Kasargod Chinna. He also bears the credit of writing the dialogues for Bettada Jeeva, a movie based on a novel by Shivaram Karanth and directed by P. Sheshadri. Some of his best works are “Ee Berala Guruthu,” “Haruva Hakkiya Goodina Daari,” and “Adhunika Cheeni Kathegalu,” to mention just a few.