new delhi english novelist namita gokhale bengali playwright bratya basu and writers ambai george onakkoor and wali mohammed kashtawari were among the 20 authors whose works were on thursday declared winners of the sahitya akademi awards for 2021the awards spanning 20 languages include seven books of poetry two novels five short stories two plays and one biography autobiography epic poetry and criticism a statement by the sahitya akademi said the awards for maithili manipuri gujarati and urdu will be announced latersahitya akademi also announced anita vachharajani as winner of the bal sahitya puraskar awarded for childrens literature for her book amrita shergil rebel with a paintbrush while megha majumdar won the sahitya akademi yuva puraskar awarded to young writers for her novel a burninggokhale who won the award for her novel things to leave behind said in a post on twitter that she was deeply honoured to receive it feel a deep sense of pride and gratitude to belong to the vibrant indian literatures she said malayalam writer george onakkoor won the award for his autobiography hryudyarangangal songs of the heart onakkoor 80 is a twotime recipient of the kerala sahitya academy award and is known for his novels short stories film scripts and a traveloguetamil feminist writer cs lakhsmi better known as ambai whose writings have challenged the stereotyping of women won for her short story collection sivappu kazhutthudan oru patchaiparavai and is the fourth woman from tamil nadu to receive the awardthe list of winners also includes poet and telangana mlc gorati venkanna trinamool congress minister playwright and film director bratya basu and kashmirs wali mohammed kashtawari whose criticism tawazun won the award basu whose film had courted controversy in the recentlyconcluded iffi in goa for being dropped from the festival line up won the sahitya akademi for his play mirjafar o ananya natak