Veteran poet Balkrishna Garg has been honoured with the second Harikrishna Devsare Baalsahitya Award 2015 for his collection of poems for children, titled ‘BaalGeet’. Sahitya Akademi President Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari and National Book Trust Chairman Baldeo Bhai Sharma conferred the award comprising a cash prize of Rs 75,000, a shawl and a citation on Garg.

Who is Harikrishna Devsare???

• Harikrishna Devsare, one of the foremost writers of Hindi children’s literature, devoted his entire life in creating meaningful children’s literature in Hindi.
• Known for experimentation in his writings, Devsare had launched a serious debate by questioning the relevance of the tales of kings and queens and fairies in the modern context.
• With over 300 books for children to his credit, Devsare has been a recipient of several awards and honours, including Bal Sahityakar Samman, Bal Sahitya Samman of Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthan, Kriti Samman (2001) and Sahityakar Samman (2004) of Hindi Akademi, Delhi.

Members of the jury included renowned Litterateur and poet Sher Jung Garg, recipient of the 2015 Sahitya Akademi Children’s Literature Award, besides senior Litterateur Sheela Jhunjhunwala, recipient of Padamshree Award, and Gangesh Gunjan, recipient of Sahitya Akademi.  Apart from Garg, Hem Bhatnagar and Yogendra Kumar were also felicitated for their contributions to children’s literature.