Celebrated Indian Bengali poet Shankha Ghosh has been selected for the Jnanpith Award for 2016. Chaired by Namwar Singh, a noted writer, scholar and critic, the Jnanpith Selection Board declared him as the 52^nd Jnanpith Award winner. Notably, poet Shankha Ghosh is a leading authority on Rabindranath Tagore. He lives in Kolkata.

Now poet Shankha Ghosh joins the league of such legendary Indian littérateurs and Jnanpith Award winners as Mahasweta Devi, Ashapurna Devi, Bishnu Dey, Subhash mukhopadhyay, Tarashankar Bandopadhyay, Amrita Pritam, Girish Karnad, Pratibha Ray, Gopinath Mohanty, Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya and likes. Tarashankar Bandopadhyay was the first Bengali writer and second Indian littérateur to have received this award in 1966.

Instituted in 1961, the Jnanpith Award is one of the most prestigious literary honors in India. It is conferred only on Indian authors for their outstanding contribution to literature in any of the 22 Indian languages included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India.

A graduate of Presidency College and a postgraduate of Calcutta University, poet Shankha Ghosh is a prolific writer and literary critic. He is an eminent academician too. Known for a unique poetic style, his poems are set in diverse social milieus. Though loaded with inspirational, touching messages, his poems are neither didactic nor condemnatory.

Poet Shankha Ghosh has poured out his mind and shaped his thoughts in different poetic forms, which is the mainstay of his creativity. He is equally known for his take on modern poetry in unique forms and styles. He has written several collections of poems, most of which have become classical creations in the treasure of Bengali literature and been translated into other Indian languages like Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Punjabi and Assamese, as well as some foreign languages.

Distinguished for their lyrical beauty and reflective narrative, his poetry including Murkho Baro’, ‘Samajik Noy’, ‘Baborer Prarthana’, and ‘Kabir Abhipray’ are steeped in feelings of agony and grief for the hollowness of society as well as the superficiality of human existence.

Poet Shankha Ghosh taught at Jadavpur University, Delhi University, Visva-Bharati University, and the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies until his retirement in 1992. In addition to the Jnanpith Award 2016, he treasures several honors and awards including Sahitya Akademi Award, Saraswati Samman, Rabindra Puraskar, Padma Bhushan, and Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement by the World Forum for Journalists and Writers.

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There are many stories of Queen Victoria in the history of British India. Some are buried in the grave of time while some are immortalized by historians and writers. The story of Queen Victoria’s controversial relationship with her trusted aide from India in the late 1800s is still alive in NRI journalist and author Shrabani Basu’s book “Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant” which will soon be adapted into a film.

Oscar-winning British actress Judi Dench has been roped in to play Queen Victoria, the Empress of British India, in the upcoming film based on London-based author Shrabani Basu’s book which was published six years ago. Award-winning British filmmaker Stephen Frears will direct the film which is yet to be titled.

The Calcutta-born author is happy to know that her book will be adapted into a screenplay for celluloid by none other than Stephen Frears who made The Queen on the British Royal Family’s response to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 2006.

Author Shrabani Basu’s book “Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant” pictures how a 24-year-old handsome Abdul Karim, who was brought from the Agra Central Jail to England to wait at tables during Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887, became a personal attendant, Urdu teacher and influencer to the then British Monarch in politically turbulent times and how the royal family responded to their intense relationship.

Victoria & Abdul captures the tender love story of a young Indian Muslim and the then Empress of India; an undefined relationship that survived the best attempts to destroy it at a time when independence movement in the subcontinent was gaining momentum. – Author Shrabani Basu

Author Shrabani Basu, a postgraduate in History from Delhi University, was born in Kolkata (then Calcutta). She joined The Times of India’s Bombay office as a trainee journalist in 1983 and moved to London in 1987. Since then she has been a correspondent of Kolkata-based leading dailies: The Telegraph and Ananda Bazar Patrika. She combined her love of history with her profession and passion for creative writing in two other books: “Spy Princess” and “For King and Another Country.”

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The post Film Adaptation of NRI Author Shrabani Basu’s Book to Star Judi Dench as Queen Victoria in Love with Young Indian appeared first on Travel to India, Cheap Flights to India, Aviation News, India Travel Tips.