Sahitya Akademi conferred Honorary Fellowship to distinguished Korean Indologist, Poet and Translator, Dr Kim Yang-shik

News Gateway /  Honorary Fellowship / New Delhi /

Sahitya Akademi conferred Honorary Fellowship to distinguished Korean Indologist, Poet and Translator, Dr Kim Yang-shik at a glittering ceremony in New Delhi on March 14, 2018. Honorary Fellowship is the highest honor conferred by the Akademi on International literary persons of outstanding merit who are not nationals of India.

Welcoming Dr Kim, dignitaries and scholars, Dr K. Sreenivasarao, Secretary, Sahitya Akademi, highlighted ancient and rich cultural relationships between India and Korea and also about literary exchanges between the two countries over several centuries. He stated that the Akademi feels honoured to confer Honorary Fellowship on Dr Kim Yang-shik. Dr K. Sreenivasarao read out the citation and Sri Madhav Kaushik, Vice President, Sahitya Akademi, conferred the Fellowship on Dr Kim Yang-shik. In his Presidential address, Sri Madhav Kaushik stated that Dr Kim’s devoted and dedicated efforts have brought the cultural and literary traditions of both the countries very close to each other and added that Dr Kim Yang-shik is the Cultural Ambassador of not only South Korea but of India too.

He highlighted the universality of Dr Kim’s works and her concern for humanity and human values spread across her vast body of works. In her acceptance speech, Dr Kim Yang-shik thanked the Akademi for the honour and talked about her early life, how she became a writer, her works, influences on her writing and the literary scenario in her country. She further recounted the huge influence of Rabindranath Tagore not only on Korean Writers’ community but also lay population.

She also elaborated on how Tagore’s works opened the road for literary exchanges between the countries especially in terms of strong philosophical schools and mystical traditions. In his felicitation speech Dr Divik Ramesh highlighted Dr Kim Yang-shik’s passion for India, Indian culture and Indian literary traditions, vastness of her oeuvre, her place in Korean consciousness, her unique abilities as a poet and translator and her selfless services as a cultural ambassador. He concluded his speech by stating Dr Kim Yang-shik is one of the very few writers who assimilated the spiritual pathos of Indian traditions and she was successful in embedding that into the Korean sensibility. Dr K. Sreenivasarao proposed a vote of thanks.