Twenty-four eminent authors writing in as many Indian languages were today conferred the Sahitya Akademi awards at the annual 'Festival of Letters'. <br/><br/>The recipients were awarded a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh each for their outstanding books of literary merit. <br/><br/>The awarded literary works have been written in 24 Indian languages, including English, Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, Sanskrit, Bodo, Kashmiri, Manipuri, Nepali among others. Jerry Pinto, Nasera Sharma, Prabha Varma, Kamal Vora and Paramita Satpathy are among others who were awarded. <br/><br/>The Chief guest of the award ceremony was distinguished physicist and Marathi writer Jayant Vishnu Narlikar.<br/>