Governor pays tribute to Bengal's literary tradition

West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi today paid rich tribute to Bengal's glorious literary tradition while conferring the prestigious "Sunil Gangopadhyay Memorial Award".

"By instituting the award in his name we are paying tribute to a literary giant like late Sunil Gangopadhyay. And Bengal's tradition of producing literary giants is still alive," Tripathi said.

He said that one of the recipients of the award, poet Joy Goswami, is one of the finest poets in post-Jibananda Das era in Bengal and his oeuvre drew admiration from generations of Bengali readers.

The other recipient Sirshendu Mukhpadhyay touched a chord with a whole generation of Bengalis who read his books and appreciated the films made on his fictions, Tripathi, himself an acclaimed poet, said.

The two recipients showed with their works that the great literary tradition of Bengal would live on, the Governor observed.

Sirshendu Mukhopadhyay recalled how late Gangopadhyay had initiated the movement of mandatory use of Bengali in all walks of life here and said it was painful for him to think about the death of the poet-friend.

Instituted by 'The Bengal', an organisation comprising industrialists, eminent writers, poets, painters and personalities from other walks of life, the two memorial awards were given in recognition of the works of Mukhopadhyay and Goswami for the year 2014 and 2015 respectively.

Eminent writer Nabaneeta Dev Sen, who is also the president of The Bengal, and industrialist and organisation's working president H M Bangur were also present.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)