Saraswati Samman Award 2023 With Full List

The Saraswati Samman Award is an annual prize and it is among the highest in the field of Indian literature. It is an annual award for outstanding prose or poetry literary works in any language of India listed in Schedule VIII of the Indian Constitution. Recently, Saraswati Samman 2022 presented to Sivasankari, a Tamil writer for her book of memoirs “Surya Vamsam”. The selection follows a rigorous three-tier process that leads up to the final decision by Chayan Parishad.

In this article, we will read about the Saraswati Samman Award, the Saraswati Award 2023 Winner, and the list of Saraswati Award Winners.

What is the Saraswati Samman Award?

The Saraswati Samman Award is among the most prestigious awards, instituted by the K.K Birla Foundation in 1991. It is an annual literary award for outstanding prose or poetry works in any of the 22 Indian languages listed in Schedule VIII of the Constitution of India. It includes ₹15,00,000, a plaque, and a citation. Candidates are selected based on the literary work published in the last 10 years, by scholars and former award winners.

The Saraswati Samman Award is given in the field of literature. It is a significant award as it is India’s one of the most renowned literary awards, honoring the goddess of wisdom, Saraswati. The first Saraswati Samman Award was given to Harivanshrai Bachchan for his four-volume autobiography, Kya Bhooloon Kya Yaad Karoon, Needa Ka Nirman Phir, Basere Se Door and Dashdwar se Sopan Tak.

Saraswati Award 2023 Winner

Sivasankari, a Tamil writer was presented with the 32nd recipient of the Saraswati Samman 2022 for her book of memoirs “Surya Vamsam”. In her memoir 2019, Surya Vamsam consists of two volumes, the first is about the metamorphosis from a child to a young writer, and the second is about the life and times of an acclaimed author spreading her wings.

Sivasankari was born (14 October 1942) in Madras. She is an Indian author, who writes in Tamil. Sivasankari’s literary career spans over five decades. She authorizes 36 novels, 150 short stories, 48 novellas, 15 travelogues, three biographies, and seven collections of essays. She is the author of the novel Avan, which was made into a TV series called Subah on Doordarshan in 1987. The Library of Congress has seventy-two titles of her works.

Important Highlights of the Saraswati Samman Award

The Saraswati Award plays a crucial role in literary work and skills. Following are some of the important highlights of this award :

• Dr Harivansh Rai Bachchan, a Hindi writer, received the first Saraswati Samman for his four-volume autobiography.
• In 2015, Padma Sachdev received the Saraswati Award for her autobiography “Chitt-Chete” in Dogri Language.
• Renowned Konkani author Mahabaleshwar Sail received this honor for his novel “Hawthan”.
• The famous Gujarati poet Sitanshu Yashaschandra was selected for the 27th Saraswati Samman in 2015. This honor was presented to him for his poetry collection “Vakhar.”
• The Notable Telugu poet Dr K. Siva Reddy received the 28th Saraswati Samman in 2018 in recognition of his poetry book “Pakki Ottigilite.”
• Vasdev Mohi, a well-known Sindhi author, received the 29th Saraswati Samman in 2019. He received this honor for his well-known “Chequebook” (Short Story Series).

List of Saraswati Award Winners

The list of Saraswati Samman Awards is given below with year and language of the work as well:

Year	Recipient	Work	Language
1991	Harivansh Rai Bachchan	Autobiography in four volumes	Hindi
1992	Ramakant Rath	“Sri Radha” (Poetry)	Odia
1993	Vijay Tendulkar	“Kanyadaan” (Play)	Marathi
1994	Harbhajan Singh	“Rukh Te Rishi” (Poetry Collection)	Punjabi
1995	Balamani Amma	“Nivedyam” (Poetry Collection)	Malyalam
1996	Shamsur Rahman Faruqi	“She`r-e Shor-Angez” (a four-volume study of the 18th-century poet Mir Taqi Mir)	Urdu
1997	Manubhai Pancholi	“Kurukshetra” (Book)	Gujarati
1998	Shankha Ghosh	“Gandharba Kabita Guccha” (Poetry collection)	Bengali
1999	Indira Parthasarathy	“Ramanujar” (Play)	Tamil
2000	Manoj Das	“Amruta Phala” (Novel)	Oriya
2001	Dalip Kaur Tiwana	“Katha Kaho Urvashi” (Novel)	Punjabi
2002	Mahesh Elkunchwar	“Yugant” (Play)	Marathi
2003	Govind Chandra Pande	“Bhagirathi” (Poetry collection)	Sanskrit
2004	Sunil Gangopadhyay	“Pratham Alo” (Novel)	Bengali
2005	K. Ayyappa Panicker	“Ayyappa Panikarude Kritikal” (Poetry collection)	Malayalam
2006	Jagannath Prasad Das	“Parikrama” (Poetry collection)	Oriya
2007	Naiyer Masud	“Taoos Chaman Ki Myna” (Short story collection)	Urdu
2008	Lakshmi Nandan Bora	“Kayakalpa” (Novel)	Assamese
2009	Surjit Paatar	“Lafzan Di Dargah” (Punjabi poetry)	Punjabi
2010	S. L. Bhyrappa	“Mandra” (Novel)	Kannada
2011	A. A. Manavalan	“Irama Kathaiyum Iramayakalum” (study of Ramayana written in 48 languages)	Tamil
2012	Sugathakumari	“Manalezhuthu” (Poetry collection)	Malayalam
2013	Govind Mishra	“Dhool Paudho Par” (Novel)	Hindi
2014	Veerappa Moily	“Ramayana Mahanveshanam” (Poetry)	Kannada
2015	Padma Sachdev	“Chitt-Chete” (Autobiography)	Dogri
2016	Mahabaleshwar Sail	“Hawthan” (Novel)	Konkani
2017	Sitanshu Yashaschandra	“Vakhar” (Poetry collection)	Gujarati
2018	K Siva Reddy	“Pakkaki Ottigilite” (Poetry)	Telugu
2019	Vasdev Mohi	“Chequebook” (Short story series)	Sindhi
2020	Sharankumar Limbale	“Sanatan” (Novel)	Marathi
2021	Ram Darash Mishra	“Main to Yahan Hun” (Poetry)	Hindi
2022	Sivasankari	“Surya Vamsam” (Memoir)	Tamil

Conclusion – Saraswati Samman Award

The Saraswati Samman, established in 1991, is India’s one of the most prestigious award given annually to the people for great literary work, written in 22 Indian languages. The panel considers last 10 years of published work to select the winner. It includes 15 Lakh rupees, a certificate and a plaque. The winner gets selected by a committee that is led by a personal associate of the Lok Sabha Administration, Prof. Subhash C. Kashyap.

FAQs on Saraswati Samman Award

1. Who started Saraswati Samman Award?

K.K Birla Foundation started Saraswati Samman Award in 1991.

2. Who won the Saraswati award in 2022?

Sivasankari won the Saraswati award for her work (“Surya Vamsam”) in tamil langauage.

3. Who won 27th Saraswati Samman Award?

Sitanshu Yashaschandra, a renowned Gujarati poet won the 27th Saraswati Samman Award on April, 2018.

4. Who is the first winner of Saraswati Samman Award?

Harivansh Rai Bachchan is the first winner of Saraswati Samman Award.