Sahitya Akademi award for poetess Dr Vanita

Dr Vanita,who teaches Punjabi at Khalsa College in New Delhi,has been given his award for her collection of poems,titled ‘Kaal,Pehar,Gharian’. She has been previously awarded the Punjabi Sahit Academy award for the same book. Dr Vanita is also the recipient of Shiromani Punjabi Sahitkar Award. She has six books and 14 translations to her credit. Talking to The Indian Express from Delhi,she said: “My phone has not stopped ringing ever since the award was announced last week. But I do not write for awards.”

The author of Supnian di pagdandi,Harian Chhavan di kabar,Bol Alaap,Mandar Saptik and Kharj Naad feels Punjabi women writers need to broaden their space of genres. Explaining,Dr Vanita says: “We have a fair share of women poets and novelists in Punjabi language but need more critics. Moreover,women in Punjabi language have mostly confined themselves to what can be called as male bashing. Their relationship with men is at times strange. I too have written feminist poetry; I have written against the feudal system,but never rejected man per se.”