Mumbai, 6th November 2020: Ruskin Bond, one of India’s most cherished authors, has been conferred the Tata Literature Live! Lifetime Achievement Award for 2020. Mr. Bond has a substantial body of work - close to 100 books - across genres for children and adults. His writing has charmed both categories of readers into lifelong love and admiration. Mr. Bond has been recognised by the Indian Council of Child Education for his contribution to the growth of children’s literature in India. He has also been conferred the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan.
Born in India to British parents, and sent to the UK as a young adult, Mr. Bond used the proceeds of his first published book to buy a passage back home to India and never left. His books reflect his deep affection for, and rootedness in India.
Mr. Bond’s celebration of nature all through his writings made him one of India’s first literary “eco warriors” much before the phrase was coined and acquires increasing relevance during the current pandemic which had its roots in the depredation of nature.
Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra, for which he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award and his other semi – autobiographical work With Love from the Hills reflect his profound connection to both India and nature.
On receiving news of the Award, Mr. Ruskin Bond said, “I am delighted to accept the Tata Literature Live! Lifetime Achievement Award. It is very thoughtful of you to recognise my very long literary life of almost seventy years, going back to the 1950s when I published my first stories in various Indian newspapers and magazines, and my first novel in 1956. I have written a lot about childhood and for children, and as the years have gone by, I have become close to nature and the world of nature has become an intrinsic part of my writing. I would also like to say that I am still writing, in fact more than usual, during this pandemic period, and have written a dozen short stories which I hope will come out next year. While I will be given the Award virtually because of the current situation, I hope that maybe next year I will be able to be with you in person to celebrate the Festival.”
Festival Founder-Director Anil Dharker said, “It is truly a delight and pleasure to pay tribute to Ruskin Bond through the Tata Literature Live! Lifetime Achievement Award. Mr. Bond has made an outstanding contribution to literature in India, especially Children’s Literature. It is in childhood that the reading habit is inculcated; therefore, good and imaginative writing for children is a very important genre. Generations of young Indian readers have grown up with Mr. Bond’s books and retained that love of reading. His simple and accessible style conveys unforgettable truths especially about the wonder and sanctity of nature”.
Harish Bhat, Brand Custodian, Tata Sons said, “It is an honour and privilege to present the Tata Literature Live! Lifetime Achievement Award to one of India’s most loved children’s writers, Mr. Ruskin Bond. He is a legend to so many of us, who have grown up with his books, which are full of vivid imagination, great joy and beautiful nature. An Indian author of British descent, Mr. Bond has contributed immensely to the development and reach of children’s literature in India. His vast repertoire of work, created over seven decades, has established him as one of the best loved writers of our country.
Past recipients of the Tata Literature Live! Lifetime Achievement Award include Shanta Gokhale, Sir Mark Tully, Girish Karnad, Amitav Ghosh, Kiran Nagarkar, MT Vasudevan Nair, Khushwant Singh, Sir VS Naipaul, Mahashweta Devi.
For more details about Tata Literature Live! The
Mumbai LitFest 2020, please visit:
Website: https://tatalitlive.in/
Speakers: https://tatalitlive.in/speakers
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tatalitlive/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/litlivemumbai
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TataLitLive/
The Tata Group is the title sponsor of Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest, and the festival will also be supported by few other Tata companies. The festival is conceived by Anil Dharker, founder and festival director of Literature Live!, which organises the festival with the support of the Tata Group.
About the Tata Group
Founded by Jamsetji Tata in 1868, the Tata group is a global enterprise, headquartered in India, comprising 30 companies across 10 verticals. The group operates in more than 100 countries across six continents, with a mission ‘To improve the quality of life of the communities we serve globally, through long-term stakeholder value creation based on Leadership with Trust’. Tata Sons is the principal investment holding company and promoter of Tata companies. Sixty-six percent of the equity share capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts, which support education, health, livelihood generation and art and culture. In 2017-18, the revenue of Tata companies, taken together, was $110.7 billion. These companies collectively employ over 700,000 people. Each Tata company or enterprise operates independently under the guidance and supervision of its own board of directors. There are 28 publicly-listed Tata enterprises with a combined market capitalisation of about $145.3 billion (as on March 31, 2018). Companies include Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Chemicals, Tata Global Beverages, Titan, Tata Capital, Tata Power, Tata Advanced Systems, Indian Hotels and Tata Communications.
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About Literature Live!
Literature Live! founded by Anil Dharker in 2010, is dedicated to celebrating the written word in all its glorious forms. The Literature Live! Evenings held throughout the year - book launches, thought-provoking talks, literary evenings, author interactions, performances, book swaps, fiction and haiku contests - have offered Mumbai a chance to participate in the many joys of literature, and undefeated by the pandemic, has digitally extended this opportunity to a vast audience beyond the city. It also holds regular talks at colleges, and events for underprivileged school children.
Literature Live! organises the Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest, Mumbai's premier international literary festival, which has become immensely popular because it looks at literature in a way that complements the spirit of Mumbai: energetic, cosmopolitan and all-inclusive. Now gearing up for its 11th edition from 16th to 22nd November 2020, Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest, with over a 100 writers, thinkers and performers from India and across the world, will be on a digital platform for the first time, offering “entry” to the Festival to a global audience along with its core attendees from Mumbai.
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