Mahua Maji, Gautam Sachdev to receive Katha Awards

New Delhi, May 20: Noted novelist Mahua Maji has been selected for this year's prestigious International Indu Sharma Katha Award for her novel ''Main Borishailla'' while Dr Gautam Sachdev has been chosen for Padmanand Sahitya Samman for his short stories collection 'Saadhey Saat Darjan Pinjrey'.

The awards to Dr Maji Aand Dr Sachdev are to be presented at the House of Lords in London at a function on July 20.

International Indu Sharma Katha Samman was instituted in the memory of promising poetess and short story writer Indu Sharma, who lost her battle of life to cancer in 1995.

The award comprises Delhi-London-Delhi air passage, shield, shawl, and a week's stay in London where the awardee would be taken to important hitorical sites.

The past recipients of the coveted award have been Chitra Mudgal, Sanjiv, Dr. Gyan Chaturvedi, S R Harnot, Vibhuti Narain Rai, Pramod Kumar Tiwari and Dr. Ashghar Wajahat.

Dr. Wajahat was the first-ever Hindi writer to have been honoured at the House of Lords.

Dr Maji, who did her Fine Arts course from Rabindra Bharati University, has registered her presence on the Hindi literary scene with her very first novel 'Main Borishailla,'' a research-based novel dealing with the background on the birth of Bangladesh.

The novel has received rave reviews from critics and is being translated into English and Bangla.

Her short stories have been published in all the major Hindi magazines and newspapers of the country.

Born in Mandi Warburton, Sheikhupur (now in Pakistan), Dr.

Sachdev did his Ph.D from the Delhi University. Besides the award-winning book, he has to his credit 'Adhar Ka Pul' and 'Ek Aur Atmasamarpan (poetry collections), Sacha Jhhotha (satire) Boond Boond Akash (ghazals) and Premchand -The Craft of story writing.

UNI