Guwahati: Noted Assamese poet Nilmani Phookan was awarded India’s highest literary honour- Jnanpith Award on Tuesday.
Phookan was awarded the Padma Shri in 1990 and received the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship in 2002.
Phookan, has been chosen for the highest Indian literary award along with Konkani writer Damodar Mauzo.
Born in 1933 at Dergaon in upper Assam’s Golaghat district, Phookan did his post-graduation in History in 1961 from Guwahati University.
He is known for his simplistic representation in the genre of Assamese poetry.
Phookan is the third Assamese to win the prestigious award. Before him, Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya and Indira Goswami were conferred with the literary award.
Jnanpith Award is a literary award presented by the Bharatiya Jnanpith organization to Indian writers every year. This was instituted in 1961 and is given only to Indian writers who write in Indian languages and English.
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