SEHORE SAHITYA SAMMAN 2021: Biggest Literary Award

Kathakanan a Nagpur based literary publication has joined hands with Sehore Sahitya Sadan, a budding literature house coming out of a sleepy village, Sehore, in Haryana, to constitute Sehore Sahitya Samman, which would be perhaps the biggest award in terms of the reward money it offers for a single Short Story and also for a set of Three Poems.

The participants can submit their short story  for this award beginning 1st January 2021, and the window will be open till the midnight of 15th February. The best original and unpublished short story will be awarded the first prize of ₹ 21,000/. The second and the thirds prize will be of ₹ 11,000/ and ₹5000/ respectively, and in addition to that, all the short listed stories will be eligible for a Inspiration Award of ₹500/ each.

The three renowned novelists and storywriters of Hindi have come on board to be the judge for this competition. Dhirendra Asthana, the former Feature Editor of Jansatta and the Editor of Sahara Samay, also the famous hindi novelist and storywriter, is one of the judges for the Story contest. The author of almost a dozen of story collections and novels, his  oeuvre includes story collections Khul Ja Sim Sim and Uss Raat ki Gandh, and also critically acclaimed novels Halaahal and Guzar Kyon Nahi’n Jata. Another Judge for story segment is Yogendra Ahuja; a distinguished story writer, and the recipient of many literary awards including Katha Puraskar, Parivesh Puraskar, and Ramakant Smriti Puraskar. Priyadarshan, the third judge for the short story, is a senior editor with NDTV. He has published 9 books including a bestseller novel ‘ Zindagi Live’  and his story collections include ‘Barish, Dhuan Aur Dost’. He has also translated 7 books into Hindi including the work of world renowned writers Salman Rushi and Arundhati Roy.

The stories having word count from 700 to 3000 words will only be eligible for the contest. Winners will be announced in the first week of April.

B L Gautam aka Babu Gautam, the founder of Sehore Sahitya Samman, and the man behind the publishing venture Kathakanan, is currently the Managing Director of FDCM Esselworld Gorewada Zoo. His hindi stories are rooted in Indian culture, but in style and taste they match Hemingway and Dahl to mention a couple from the long list of world’s famous story tellers. His English body of work includes the novel ‘ Deadly Innocent’  and an anthology ‘ Mohammed a Mechanic and Mary a Maid’.

He believes ‘we are not what we eat perhaps, but we certainly are what we read’. He has staked his resources to promote Hindi literature with a thought that ‘India’s path back to its lost glory has to be paved with glorious fiction alongwith the shining facts’. The judges for poetry segment, to open after a fortnight after the short story, are also finalized. The First Prize of ₹ 11000/  for the best set of 3 poems is named ‘Manglesh Dabral Award’ after the most acclaimed poet of our times who left this world behind on 9th of December. F