New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi’s highest honour – the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship – was awarded to eminent English writer and scholar Ruskin Bond. Due to his ill health, this honour was given to Bond by Sahitya Akademi President Madhav Kaushik and Sahitya Akademi Secretary K. Sreenivasarao, at his Mussoorie home. Bond’s son was also present on this occasion. Born on 19 May 1934 in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh, Ruskin Bond has been active in the world of writing for more than 50 years and has written in various genres of literature. His early works of fiction include story collections and novels as well as some autobiographical works. Later, he also wrote non-fiction, romance, and children’s books. His favourite genres are essays and stories. His notable works include Vagrants in the Valley, Once Upon a Monsoon Time, Angry River, Strangers in the Night, All Roads Lead to Ganga, Tales of Fosterganj, Leopard on the Mountain, and Too Much Trouble. The 1978 Hindi film Junoon is based on Ruskin’s historical novel A Flight of Pigeons (Indian Rebellion of 1857). Adaptations of his stories were aired on Doordarshan as the TV serial ‘Ek Tha Rusty,’ and several of his stories – The Night Train at Deoli, Time Stops at Shamli, and Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra – were included in the school curriculum in India. In 2005, his popular children’s novel The Blue Umbrella was made into a film. He did a small role in the 2011 film 7 Khoon Maaf directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, which is based on his story ‘Susanna’s Seven Husbands.’ He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992 for his story collection Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra. He has also been honoured with Padma Shri in 1999 by the Government of India and Padma Bhushan in 2019, and the Sahitya Akademi Bal Sahiya in 2012.
