Odia Author Jugal Sarangi To Be Conferred Bal Sahitya Puraskar For ‘Jejenka Gapa Ganthili’

Bhubaneswar: Noted Odia author Jugal Kishore Sarangi has been selected to be conferred the prestigious Bal Sahitya Puraskar for this year for his book ‘Jejenka Gapa Ganthili’.

This was announced by Sahitya Akademi on Friday. ‘Jejenka Galpa Ganthili’ is a collection of stories published in 2018.

The award, comprising a copper plaque and a cash prize of Rs 50,000, will be presented at a special function to be held in New Delhi later this year, sources said.

78-year-old Sarangi, who hails from Sindhekela village in Balangir district, is also a lyricist with All India Radio apart from being a children’s writer.

The executive board of Sahitya Akademi which met under the chairmanship of President Madhav Kaushik, approved the selection of 22 writers in various languages including Sarangi for the award. The book was selected on the recommendation of a three-member jury for the Odia language comprising authors Phani Mohanty, Bhupen Mohapatra and Maheswar Mohanty.

A resident of Titilagarh, Sarangi has been writing books for children for the last 30 years. Having worked for the School and Mass Education department as an inspector of schools, his first book was ‘Asare Pile Asa’.

Sarangi, who writes both in Odia and Koshali languages, has been distributing children’s books among schools and orphanages free of cost. He happens to be the vice-president of All India Children Literary Foundation, Kolkata.