Punjabi poet wins Saraswati Samman

Punjabi poet Surjit Patar has been selected for the coveted Saraswati Samman for his poetry collection Lafzan Di Dargah.

The award, constituted by K K Birla Foundation, carries a cash bag of Rs five lakh, a citation and a plaque. 65-year-old Patar has been chosen for the award for 2009 by a 13-member jury led by former Chief Justice G B Patnaik.

Lafzan Di Dargah, the Punjabi poetry collection which was selected for the award, was published in 2003.

Saraswati Samman is given every year to an outstanding literary work written in any Indian language and published in the last ten years. The first recipient of the award was Harivansh Rai Bachchan in 1991 for his autobiography.

Full report here PTI

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