Bengaluru: Damodar Mauzo (77), a Konkani novelist and short story writer, has won the 57th Jnanpith Award.
Mauzo was born in the State of Goa. He has been writing in Konkani for almost three decades and is a short story writer, novelist, columnist, and screenplay writer. He is the author of two novels, four collections of short stories, and three young adult books.
His work Karmelin, which has been translated into over a dozen languages, garnered him the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983. Many national anthologies and magazines have published translations of his stories. In addition to English, some of his stories have been translated into Portuguese and French.
Notable accolades under his names are Katha Award for Creative Fiction in 1998, the Goa State Film Festival’s Best Dialogues Award in 1997, the Goa Kala Academy Award, and the Konkani Bhasha Mandal Award. He also received a Senior Fellowship from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, for 2011-2012. In 2011, he was honoured with the Vimala V Pai Vishwa Konkani Sahitya Puraskar for his novel Tsunami Simon. His collection of Short stories Teresa’s Man and Other Stories from Goa was nominated for the Frank O’Connor International award in 2015.
He has previously served on the Sahitya Akademi’s Executive Board, General Council, and Finance Committee.
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