Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Madhya Pradesh Sahitya Akademi is preparing a gazetteer of litterateurs from the state. The document will include brief bios of writers from all the districts of the state.
The Sahitya Akademi is a body under the culture department of the state government. “We have named the document a ‘gazetteer’ instead of the usual ‘directory’ so as to distinguish it from publications by private organisations. The idea is to convey to the readers that it is a government publication which is authentic and which does not include undeserving names,” Vikas Dave, director of the Akademi, said.
The gazetteer will contain details of the litterateurs district-wise. It will include the name of the writers, their parents and the date and place of their birth. It will also tell the readers about their genre i.e. novel, short stories, poetry, travelogues and so on, besides the titles of their published works and the details of up to five awards or honours conferred on them. It will also carry their postal addresses and their mobile and / or their landline numbers.
“We want to ensure that researchers and others who want authentic and genuine information about the authors should get it at one place,” Dave said. The compilation will also include the names of authors who are no more, he added.
Litterateurs from the state writing in Hindi and around six dialects spoken in the state will be included in the compilation. Data on 23 districts has already been compiled and work is underway on the remaining districts.
Litterateur Gokul Soni, who has compiled the information on writers from Bhopal district said that the names of around 600 authors from the district have been included in the compilation. The government is yet to allocate a budget for the publication of the gazetteer. “Till funds are allocated, we will upload it in digital format on the website of the Parishad,” Soni added.
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