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Sahitya
Akademi is aware of cultural and linguistic difference and does
not believe in a forced standardisation of culture through a
bulldozing of levels and attitudes. At the same time, it is also
conscious of the deep inner cultural, spiritual, historical and
experiential links that unify India's diverse manifestations
of literature.
Inspite of the pan-Indian character of our literature,
writers and readers in one language know very little of what
is being written in the neighbouring linguistic area. It is,
therefore, necessary to devise methods by which Indian writers
may come to know each other, cross the barriers of language and
script, and appreciate the immense variety and complexity of
their country's literary heritage.
 Sahitya Akademi's
programmes are so designed as to heighten literary awareness
among the common readers, to provide a platform of dialogue for
writers of various languages, to create opportunities for academics
to discuss issues of literature and aesthetics, to encourage
critics to reassess their canons, methodologies and tools of
analysis and re-evaluate classical, medieval and modern authors' texts
and trends and to bring the readers face to face with established
as well as upcoming authors. Sahitya Akademi holds, on an average,
one hundred and fifty literary programmes and activities of various
types and scales. Annual seminars in each of the 22 recognised
languages are held following the suggestions from the 22 language
advisory boards - consisting of ten significant writers / scholars
/ critics from each - whose constitution changes every five years.
These boards
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| Dr. Hazari Prasad Dwivedi,
Smt. Mahadevi Verma and Sri Ramdhani Singh 'Dinkar' at the inaugural
session of Sri Aurobindo Seminar, Varanasi, 1972 |
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> Held on authors, texts, trends, movements and
theoretical aspects of literature.
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30 seminars including national and international ones are held
every year.
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Seminars are held in different parts of India in all the twenty
two languages.
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So far, Seminars have been held on topics like Indian
Poetry after Independence, 50 years of Indian Fiction, Freedom
and the Writer, Kannada and Bengali Bhakti Literatures, Bhartrihari
and Wittgenstein, Oral Traditions, Indigenous Oral Narrative
Forms, Nativism in Indian Literature, Fundamentals of Indian
Culture and so on.
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Seminars have also been held to mark the birth centenaries of
great writers, like the one on the 125th
Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, Birth centenary of
T. S. Eliot, etc.
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also suggest National Seminars on certain important themes or
on writers and texts whose centenaries, bicentenaries etc. are
being celebrated in a particular year. There are also regional
Seminars suggested by the four Regional Advisory Panels where
the accent is on comparative literature and criticism.
International Seminars involving scholars from
abroad are also held at regular intervals as those held in recent
years on 'Narratives', on 'Indology at Crossroads', on 'The Ramayana
Tradition' and on 'Mirza Ghalib's Worlds'. Symposia on topics
and authors of contemporary relevance and workshops on genres
and for inter-language translations are also held from time to
time. There has recently been a special emphasis on tribal and
folk literatures and the new literatures of the marginalised
sections meant to make our programmes more democratic and to
share popular concerns. We are also trying to carry our programmes
and activities to the interior parts of the country. Besides
Seminars, Symposia and Workshops, the Akademi's programmes include
Meet the Author, Samvad, Kavisandhi, Kathasandhi, Men and books,
Through my Window, Mulakat, Asmita, Antaral, Avishkar, Loka:
The Many Voices , Seminars, Samvatsar Lectures, Workshops on, Literary Translations, Travel
Grants to Authors, Cultural Exchange Programmes, etc. |
