Meet the winner of 53rd Jnanpith Award 2017 - Krishna Sobti

Hindi fiction writer and essayist Krishna Sobti has been chosen for this year's Jnanpith Award 2017 - India's highest literary award, the Jnanpith Selection Board announced today.

Sobti was born on 18 February, 1925 in the Gujarat province of now Pakistan. After the partition, she came to Delhi and ever since she has been writing from the capital itself. 

Sobti is known for experimenting with new writing styles and creating “bold” and “daring” characters in her stories who were ready to accept all challenges.  Her language is highly influenced by the intermingling of Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi cultures.

In 1980, Sobti was conferred with the Sahitya Akademi Award for her novel Zindaginama. In 1996, she was also awarded with the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship.


Sobti's other magnificent works include Aye Ladki, Mitro Marjani and Jaini Meherban Singh, to name a few. This year the Jnanpith Awards' selection committee had Girishwar Mishra, Harish Trivedi, Ramakant Rath on board. Last year, the award was given to the popular Bengali writer Sankha Ghosh.

Sobti will be awarded with a cash prize of Rs 11 lakh, a certificate and a memento as part of the 53rd Jnanpith Award ceremony. 

About Jnanpith Award

o             Jnanpith Award is an India's Highest literary award presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith, a literary and research organization to an author for the "outstanding contribution towards literature".

o             This award was first instituted in the year 1961.

o             This award comprises a citation plaque, a cash prize of ₹11 lakh, and a bronze replica of goddess Saraswati.

o             First winner of this award : G. Sankara Kurup (Malayalam)

o             Last Year's Winner of this award : Shankha Ghosh (Bengali)