GUWAHATI, Feb 19 — Renowned poet of the State, Sri Nilamoni Phukan has been selected as “Fellow of the Sahitya Akademi,” the highest honour of the institution reserved for the immortals of literature. When contacted at his residence here this evening, the poet told The Assam Tribune with humility, “I don’t consider myself to be qualified for such an honour even though I tried my level best with all sincerity and devotion at my command to serve my language and literature for about for decades. May be the award is a recognition to that.”
Sri Phukan, who came to know about the news from TV bulletin and subsequent calls from journalists, further said, “I started composing poems while I was a school student though I started maturing as a poet since my days in Cotton College.” Sri Phukan has about nine collections of poems to his credit in addition to four titles on art and four books on translated poetry.
His first published work was Surya henu naami ahe ai nadiyedi (1969) which was published by Lahkar and Sons, Rangiya. His latest work was Sagartolir Sankha — a collection of his selected poems edited by Dr Hiren Gohain — which was published by Lawyers in 1999. It will be worth mentioning that late Syed Abdul Malik, one of the most prolific litterateurs in the State, was the most recent recipient the “Sahitya Akademi Fellowship” from the State. The fellowship is the highest honour conferred by the Sahitya Akademi on a writer.