17th Katha (U.K.) awards '11

International Indu Sharma Katha Samman for 2011 would be conferred upon Vikas Kumar Jha for his novel McCluskieganj (published by Rajkamal Prakashan, New Delhi), according to a press release issued by the General Secretary of Katha (U.K.) and noted writer Tejendra Sharma. This is an epic novel that deals with the only Anglo-Indian village in the world. The award consists of an air passage Delhi-London-Delhi, Airport Tax, Visa fee for UK, a shield, a shawl and a free visit to historical sites in and around London. The award will be handed over to Vikas Kr. Jha in a glittering function to be held on 27 June 2011 at the House of Commons in London.

International Indu Sharma Katha Samman was instituted in the memory of promising poetess and short story writer Indu Sharma who died due to cancer in 1995. The list of past recipients of this award includes Chitra Mudgal, Sanjiv, Dr. Gyan Chaturvedi, S.R. Harnot, Vibhuti Narain Rai, Pramod Kumar Tiwari, Dr. Asghar Wajahat, Mahua Maji, Nasera Sharma, Bhagwan Das Morwal and Hrishikesh Sulabh.

An M.A. in Sociology, Vikas Kumr Jha was born on 7 October 1963. He is presently working as the editor of a Hindi magazine Rashtriya Prasang. Earlier he worked in the editorial departments of Raviwar, Outlook and Maya. Besides McCluskieganj  Jha has Bihar – Criminalization of Politics, Bhog (Novel), Iss Baarish Mein (Collection of Poems),  Parichay Patra (Essays in Bengali) and Satta ke Sutradhar  (Political History of Post Indepedent India) in his dole. He has also hosted a number of programmes for various TV channels.

Padmanand Sahitya Samman for 2011 goes to Neena Paul from Leicestershire for her novel Talaash (published by Ayan Prakashan) according to a press release issued by Tejendra Sharma. Neena was born in Ambala (India) and holds M.A., B.Ed. degrees and a professional training in music. Besides Talaash, Neena has five collections of Ghazal Kasak, Nayaamat, Anjuman, Chashm-e-Khawadeeda, Mulaqaton ka Safar and a novel Rihaai to her credit.

So far this award has been given to the well-known writers of U.K viz. Dr. Satyendra Srivastava, Divya Mathur, Naresh Bharatiya, Bhartendu Vimal, Dr. Achala Sharma, Usha Raje Saxena, Govind Sharma, Dr. Gautam Sachdev,  Usha Verma, Mohan Rana, Mahendra Dwesar and Kadambari Mehra.

The Trust thanks all those writers, editors, journalist friends and well-wishers who helped the trust in selection of these award winners.