New Delhi: Noted Urdu lyricist and author Gulzar, Tamil writer Sirpi Balasubramanian and Marathi playwright Mahesh Elkunchwar are among the 22 litterateurs selected for this year's 'Sahitya Akademi' awards, which were announced here on December 21.

The executive board of the Akademi, which met here under the chairmanship of its president Ramakant Rath, approved selection of 22 books, chosen on the basis of recommendations made by a jury of three members in the concerned languages, its secretary K Satchidananadan said in a release.

The award in the form of a casket containing an engraved copper plaque and a cheque for Rs 40,000 would be presented at a special function here on February 17, 2003.

The Board also selected 17 translators including Krishan Mohan in Hindi for the 'Sahitya Akademi' prize for translation, which carries an amount of Rs 15,000 each.

While Gulzar has been selected for his collection of Urdu short stories 'Dhuan' (smoke), Sirpi has been chosen for his poetry collection 'Oru Giraamattu Nadi' (river in a village) and Elkunchwar has been selected for Marathi Play 'Yugant' (end of an era), the release said.

The other winners of the Akademi Awards are Nalinidhar Bhattacharya (Assamese), Sandipan Chattopadhyaya (Bengali), Om Vidyarthi (Dogri), Amit Choudhuri (English), Dhruv Bhat (Gujarati), Rajesh Joshi (Hindi), S Narayana Setty (Kannada), Naji Munawar (Kashmiri), Hema Naik (Konkani), Somdev (Maithili), K G Sankara Pillai (Malayalam), R K Bhubansana (Manipuri), Prem Pradhan (Nepali) and Bharat Ola (Rajasthani).

PTI