New Delhi: The Sahitya Akademi on Thursday, December 18, 2025, abruptly cancelled a scheduled press conference to announce its annual literary awards, triggering confusion after the move was linked to an intervention by the Union Ministry of Culture.

The press conference, scheduled for 3 pm in New Delhi following a meeting of the Akademi’s Executive Board, was called off minutes before it was to begin, with the awards announcement put on hold. The decision followed a directive from the Ministry of Culture, though no specific reasons were publicly communicated at the time.

Members of the Akademi’s Executive Board, however, expressed strong reservations over the last-minute intervention. KP Ramanunni, writer and executive committee member, said this was the first such instance in the history of the Akademi, describing the postponement as unfortunate. While the instruction was to defer the announcement temporarily, he said there was hope that it would be made without further delay.

The Executive Board meeting held earlier in the day had unanimously approved the list of awardees, following established procedure. Traditionally, the names are announced at a press conference immediately after approval. Several members felt the postponement was not in keeping with the Akademi’s conventions and conveyed their dissatisfaction to the Ministry. The committee has tasked the Akademi Secretary with engaging the Ministry of Culture to facilitate an early announcement.

Despite the absence of an official declaration, it has emerged that writer N Prabhakaran was selected for the Malayalam Sahitya Akademi Award for his novel 'Maayaamanushyar'. The Malayalam jury had shortlisted ten works, including those by Sheela Tomy, Desamangalam Ramakrishnan, K V Mohan Kumar, Benyamin, M V Janardhanan, T T Sreekumar, Vijayalakshmi, K L Mohana Varma, and Ravi Varma Thampuran.

The Sahitya Akademi, India’s national academy of letters, confers annual awards for literary works in 24 recognised Indian languages. The sudden halt has sparked debate within literary circles over institutional autonomy, award governance, and the future course of the Sahitya Akademi Awards 2025.