Young Odia Writer Dileswar Rana Selected For Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar-2023

Bhubaneswar: Young writer Dileswar Rana has been selected for Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar for 2023 in Odia literature.

In a notification on Tuesday, Sahitya Akademi president Madhav Kaushik said Dileswar, belonging to Kalahandi district of the state, has been selected for the award for his book ‘Seranra’, a compilation of short stories.

The book was selected on the recommendations of a jury comprising three eminent litterateurs of the state including Bibhuti Pattnaik, Gobinda Chandra Chand and Dash Benhur.

Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar includes a copper plaque and Rs 50,000. It will be presented to Dileswar at a special function at a later date.

It may be noted that the Akademi had earlier announced that the award for this year will not be given to any person after the names of the jury members and those of shortlisted writers were leaked in public domain.

However, following an outcry in the literary circle, the Akademi formed the present jury comprising the eminent writers to select the young writer for the award.

Born in 1994, Dileswar is now working as a teacher in a primary school in Kalahandi.