The Sahitya Akademi will hold an emergency meeting on October 23 to discuss the alarming exodus of literary icons from the fraternity and writers returning their awards.
“In the meeting, a decision will be taken after holding a discussion with the committee. One writer representing each language will be present in the meeting,” Sahitya Akademi president Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari told the media.
Till now, 15 writers have returned their awards to the Akademi since Hindi writer Uday Prakash first did so last month over the killing of Kannada scholar M.M. Kalburgi.
In another blow to the Akademi, Kannada writer Aravind Malagatt resigned from the fraternity on Sunday.
Earlier, eminent writer Nayantara Sahgal and former Lalit Kala Akademi chairperson Ashok Vajpeyi had returned their Sahitya Akademi awards to protest the ‘growing intolerance’ in the country.