Bengaluru: Writer and journalist Nadoja Dr. S.R. Ramaswamy was awarded the prestigious ‘S.L. Bhyrappa Sahitya Pratishtana Prashasti’ for the year 2024 at a programme organised by Sahitya Pratishtana at Gokhale Institute of Public Affairs in Bengaluru on Feb. 18.

Litterateur Nadoja Dr. T.V. Venkatachala Sastry presented the award. The award carries a purse of  Rs. 1 lakh and a citation.

Speaking on this occasion, renowned novelist Dr. Bhyrappa said: “A creative writer needs the help of scholars. The creative writer per se cannot take the load of becoming a scholar. Fortunately, there are a few distinguished scholars in Karnataka like Dr. Ramaswamy, Dr. Venkatachala Sastry and Shatavadhani Dr. R. Ganesh, who can recognise the author’s creativity and provide scholarly support. If our creative writers go to Dr. Ramaswamy, they will be benefited a great deal. I have received this benefit and will continue to receive it.”

He said that conferring the award on Dr. Ramaswamy was like honouring the Pratishtana itself.

“Though at one point of time, I was shunned by those who hold the criticism in their hands like a breather, many eminent scholars made in-depth analysis of every novel of mine and wrote excellent  reviews. Perhaps, such scholarly reviews brought down the number of critics, who were averse to my works to become popular,”   Dr. Bhyrappa added.

Presiding over the award ceremony, Dr. Venkatachala Sastry said, it was difficult to find someone elderly, scholarly and more deserving person than Dr. Ramaswamy for the award.

Thanking Pratishtana, recipient of the award Dr. Ramaswamy said: “None of my Guru pankti had such a glorious celebration.”

Dr. Bhyrappa’s Kannada literary contribution was very distinct. There were many role models during his early days of literary work and journalism. Now, there were only a handful of such people, he said. Dr. Ramaswamy has been the Honorary Editor-in-Chief of Utthana and Rashtrotthana Sahitya. Earlier, he was the Chief Sub-Editor at Sudha (Kannada weekly magazine).

Proficient in multiple languages including Sanskrit, Kannada, Telugu, English, Hindi and German, Dr. Ramaswamy has written over 50 books. He was in close association with many, particularly luminary DVG, who was a guru and mentor to him.

Shatavadhani Dr. Ganesh, writers Sandeep Balakrishna and Vigneshwara Bhat also spoke on Dr. Ramaswamy’s literary works. Pratishtana Hon. Secretary Prof. G.L. Shekar and writer Shashank Parashar also spoke.