Missing link in Akademi awards list

When the Sahitya Akademi announced the names of winners of its annual literary awards yesterday, there was one language unrepresented among them. After a controversy arose over the provenance of a poetry collection, the executive committee of the Akademi held back the name of the Bengali award winner.

The committee apparently could not ascertain whether Benoy Muzumdar8217;s poetry collection, Haspatale Lekha Kabitaguhha, selected for the honour, was an original work or a compilation of his earlier published work.

For the award, the Sahitya Akademi only selects books that have 70 per cent original content as opposed to being a compilation of earlier published work.