Though Anees Salim has no aversion to awards and honours, he has only one thing to say: ‘I’m not going to receive the award. People need not see me, the author. They should only read me’.
‘The Blind Lady’s Descendants’ written by Anees Salim was selected for this year’s Sahitya Akademi award in English category. The same book had won Crossword Book Prize in 2015, but he did not receive it either.
Anees decided not to attend the Sahitya Akademi award distribution ceremony because he is determined that it is not him but his book that should be honoured.
‘Be the award small or big, I have decided since the day I gained fame as a writer that I would never go to receive the award. There will be no change in that decision. The writer should not be celebrated and I don’t wish to do so,’ Anees opined.
Anees said that he feels even a group of three persons as a crowd and is enough for him to withdraw from an event. Due to this introvert nature, Anees dropped out of school at the age of 16 and spent time in his father’s huge collection of books and gradually started writing.
The Vicks Mango Tree, Tales from a Vending Machine and Vanity Bag are his other novels. Anees Salim is currently working as the creative head of an advertising company in Kochi.
Read more... S Ramesan Nair, Anees Salim among winners of Sahitya Akademi Award 2018
