Panaji: Noted Konkani poet Melvyn Rodrigues from Mangaluru, Karnataka, has been elected as the Convenor of Konkani Advisory Board of Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, at the general council meeting held on March 11.
Rodrigues told IANS that it is a honour of all Konkani-speaking people and he will try his best for the progress of the language.
“This is a honour of all Konkani people living in India and foreign countries. I will try to do whatever best possible for taking Konkani to greater heights, working within the Constitution of Akademi and fight to uphold the true spirit of writers,” he said.
As per the 2011 census, there were around eight lakh Konkani-speaking people in Karnataka. There are also Konkani-speaking people and Konkani writers in Delhi, Kerala and Maharashtra.
Rodrigues will be a member of the executive council of the Sahitya Akademi for the next five years.
Earlier in January, Rodrigues was nominated to the General Council of Sahitya Akademi. His name was chosen by the outgoing general council, out of the several recommendations received from various Konkani institutions affiliated to the Akademi.
A graduate in Business Management and a postgraduate in Sociology, Rodrigues is currently working as the Director of Operations, at Daijiworld Media Private Limited.
He is the founder of Kavita Trust, which has organised more than 220 programmes on poetry and has published 34 books.
Rodrigues has many literature books to his credit, which includes one novella, six poetry collections, three translations, two collection of essays, six edited works and one musical album.
He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2011.
–IANS