New Delhi, Feb 20 (indianmuslims.info) Sahitya Academy has declared 19 books in Indian languages as winners of Sahitya Academy Translation Award. A decision to this effect was taken in the Academy’s management council meeting with its president Professor Gopi Chand Narang in the chair here Monday.

Renowned novelist and story writer Sajid Rasheed has been named as winner for his Urdu translation of Vishwas Patil’s Marathi novel Jhada Jharti into the Urdu language. The jury for Urdu comprised Professor Sadiq, Haider Jafri Syed and Professor Syed Manzoor Ahmad.

As a novelist, Sajid Rasheed is known for dealing with the themes of justice, agitation and human sympathy in his works. His stories are marked with a typically bold treatment of injustice and inequality in society. Four collections of his novels in Urdu and Hindi have been published.

A winner of Katha Award, Mr Rasheed is at present editing a distinguished literary magazine Naya Warq.

Other winners of Sahitya Academy Translation Award include Dr Muhammad Zakir for his translation of Deputy Nazeer Ahmed’s book Ibnul Waqt into English, Late Nishat Ansari (posthumous) for Kashmiri translation and Kirpal Singh for Panjabi (Gurumukhi) translation of the same book, Jyoti Bhushan Chaki for Bangla translation of Kaifi Azmi’s work, Asawri Ka Kade for Napali translation of Kali Das’ Meghdoot, and Podyar Asu for Telugu translation of Qazi Nazrul Islam’s works.

Sahitya Academy awards translators of selected distinguished works into 24 languages every year.

The award consists of Rs 20,000 cash and a certificate.

These awards will be handed over to the recipients in a function to be organised in August 2007.