Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar,2024: Silchar girl Dr. Sutapa Chakraborty makes the valley proud

Dr Sutapa Chakraborty from Silchar bags the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar, 2024. The literary award is conferred by the Sahitya Akademi, India’s National Academy of Letters. Established in 2011, the annual award to young writers aged 35 or below is conferred for their outstanding works in the field of literature. Awarded in 23 languages including Assamese, Bengali, English, this is a noteworthy fruition.

This exceptional news of the achievement of Dr. Sutapa, daughter to Suhash Kanti Chakraborty and Dipali Chakraborty reached her this afternoon straight from the Delhi office of the Sahitya Akademi. A Karimganj College graduate, she recently completed her PhD in 2022 and is currently involved in preparing for different competitive exams. Besides this, she is an ardent reader and a writer.

Sutapa has got 3 of her books published to her name till now. Her first book, Deraje Holud Phool, Gotojonmo (দেরাজে হলুদ ফুল, গতজন্ম), a prose-poem collection written in series format published under Adam Publications, Kolkata bagged her the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar, 2024 in the category of Bengali language. This book experiments with the experiences of love and loneliness. Her second book, Mayavidya (মায়াবিদ্যা) is a collection of a hundred sonnets published under Bhashalipi Publications, Kolkata.

What is interesting is that she has also written a book in Sylheti named Bhromorjaan (ভ্রমণজান) published by Prasun Barman and Sanjoy Chakraborty of Guwahati under Bangla Sahitya O Sanskriti Samaj. When asked about her hobby, Sutapa says, “I have always spent my leisure time reading and writing. This is my meditation and that is all that I want to do. I do love to paint as well.” Her library full of books is a proof to that.

She credits the legacy created by Shaktipada Brahmachari’s literary movement along with Debashish Tarafdar, Amitabha Deb Choudhury, Ranajit Das of Silchar and Barak Valley at large for inspiring her to dive deep into the pool of writing and literary practice. Her inclination towards poetry could be sensed from the conversation and we were right about it. She loves to read and experiment with poetry.

While asked to give any message to the young writers, a very down-to-earth Sutapa says that she has just made a start and it is a long way to go till she becomes learned enough to be a guiding light to the youth. However, she believes that anybody who wants to and loves to practice literature will do so no matter what the situation is. “No matter how much we blame the less attention spanned reels for our declining interest in books, the one who has to do it will do it” in her words. She also chimed in to sternly condemn the recent context of the controversy around the Bengali language question paper debacle.

She believes that without disrespecting other languages, we need to learn our mother-tongue no matter what. “Preserving our mother tongue should be the topmost priority and not doing so is a matter of shame”, says the young literary awardee. She also believes that there shouldn’t be any discrimination with Sylheti language as well. She added, People in Kolkata explore Sylheti folk songs and we need to stop feeling ashamed of the language.

Dr. Sutapa’s exceptional achievement fills us all with pride and joy and we wish she continues to represent Bengali in various platforms keeping Sylheti side by side.