Nashik: The Kusumagraj National Literary Award (2024), given by Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU), has been awarded this year to the renowned Hindi poet Kumar Ambuj. The award will be presented by the university’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Sanjeev Sonawane, on Wednesday at 6 pm at the Visakha Auditorium in the Kusumagraj Memorial, Nashik.
This award, started in 2010, is given annually to a selected non-Marathi poet by the university’s Kusumagraj Adhyasana. It carries a cash prize of one lakh rupees, along with a citation and a certificate. Previously, well-known poets such as Chandrakant Devtale (Hindi), K. Sachchidanandan (Malayalam), Sitanshu Yashachandra (Gujarati), Surjit Patar (Punjabi), Temsula Ao (English), Vishnu Khare (Hindi), H.S. Shivprakash (Kannada), Amitabh Gupta (Bengali), and Neelim Kumar (Assamese) have been honoured with this award.
For this year’s award, the selection committee, headed by the Vice Chancellor Prof. Sanjeev Sonawane, unanimously recommended the name of poet Kumar Ambuj. The committee included renowned poets and translators Prof. Chandrakant Patil, Dr. Gorakh Thorat and Dr. Rajshekhar Shinde. Dr. Dilip Dhondge, Head of Kusumagraj Adhyasana, served as the coordinator of the committee, according to information provided by the university’s Registrar, Dilip Bharad.
Who is Kumar Ambuj?
Kumar Ambuj, a poet from Guna, Madhya Pradesh, is well-known as a powerful poet, story writer, and critic of the post-nineties generation. Five of his poetry collections have been published so far, and one collection of edited poems has also been released. He has previously been honored with several awards, including the Madhya Pradesh Sahitya Akademi Award.
