Priya A S Receives Kendra Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2023

She claimed that, much as how rivers altered their paths during floods, the narrative in her head had also evolved.

on Jun 27, 2023

Priya A S Receives Kendra Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2023

For her 2018 book Perumazhayathe Kunjithalukal, Priya A S has been awarded the prestigious (Kendra) Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puraskar 2023 for children's literature in the Malayalam language. For the same book in 2020, she received the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Children's Literature.

With the release of Perumazhayathe Kunjithalukal on November 1, 2018, IE Malayalam, the Malayalam news portal of The Indian Express, launched its children's literature section. The book was included in Poorna Books' Sammanapothi series.

A copper plaque with engraving and Rs 50,000 make up the (Kendra) Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahitya Puraskar. Each language's winners were chosen by panels of three people. The Malayalam jury included Dr. Paul Manalil, B S Rajeev, and Mundoor Sethumadhavan.

A list of 10 suggested novels was used to choose Priya's book.

Priya received the (Kendra) Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize in 2014 for her Malayalam translation of The God of Small Things, which won Arundhati Roy the Booker Prize.

Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) section officer Priya, 56, just resigned, said, "I wrote the novel amid the backdrop of the 2018 Kerala floods. I had the opportunity to witness firsthand how kids from many backgrounds banded together and responded to the disaster in Kochi, India, in 2018 while working at relief camps set up in the instrumentation department of the Cusat campus.

She claimed that, much as how rivers altered their paths during floods, the narrative in her head had also evolved. "After the floods, I reasoned that it wouldn't be worthwhile to base my story on anything other than the floods. Every life I observed in the nearby aid camp served as inspiration for the book, she continued.

Priya expressed her gratitude to IE Malayalam for publishing over 300 of her children's stories. "IE Malayalam is the only internet portal in Malayalam that prioritizes children's literature. For the past five years, it has been releasing my stories around the summer, Onam, and Christmas vacations.