Sahitya Akademi is not only the premier institution in the country for literary dialogue, publication and promotion but also the only institution in the country that undertakes literary activities in twenty-four languages, including English. Set up in 1954 by the Government of India as a autonomous organization fully financed by the Government, Sahitya Akademi has ceaselessly endeavoured to promote good taste and healthy reading habits, to keep alive the intimate dialogue among the various linguistic and literary zones and groups contributing to the emotional integration of the nation through seminars, lectures, symposia, discussions, readings and performances. The policies and programmes of Sahitya Akademi are decided by its General Council and Executive Board consisting of eminent writers and academics and is assisted by advisory boards in each recognized language. It has an elected President who chairs the various councils and committees and a Secretary as the Chief Executive. The governing and advisory bodies are freshly constituted every five years. The functioning of Sahitya Akademi is totally democratic and decentralized. It has a Head Office in Delhi and offices in Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai.

Over 50 years of its dynamic existence, it has published over 4300 books in 22 Indian languages. It publishes two bi-monthly journals - Indian Literature in English and Samkaleen Bharatiya Sahitya in Hindi - which carry translated literary pieces from different languages. It also publishes a half-yearly journal in Sanskrit, Samskrta Pratibha. Sahitya Akademi runs projects for the propagation of tribal-oral literature and translation.

The highest honour conferred by Sahitya Akademi on a writer is by electing him a Fellow. This honour is reserved for the "immortals of literature" and limited to twenty-one at any given time. So far 66 writers have been awarded the Fellowship.

Sahitya Akademi gives awards for creative/critical writing and Translation Prizes in each of the recognized languages every year and has given 850 awards since its inception for original books of outstanding merit and 302 Translation Prizes since 1989 for books of translation. Apart from these awards, the annual Bhasha Samman has also been instituted since 1996 which is given to scholars and writers for their contribution to languages not recognized by the Sahitya Akademi and to Classical and Medieval literature. So far 35 writers and scholars have been honoured with the Bhasha Samman.

Seminars on literary topics at regional, national and international levels as well as literary workshops are also organized to provide a platform to the writers of the different languages for interchange of ideas. It also conducts programmes such as Meet the Author, Men and Books, Through my Window, Asmita, Mulaqat, Kathasandhi, Kavisandhi, Kavi-Anuvadak, Loka: The Many Voices, Antaral and Avishkar. More than 200 such programmes are held every year.

The Sahitya Akademi Library is one of the prominent multilingual Libraries in India and has a wide range of books numbering over 1.27 lakhs in more than 25 Indian and foreign languages. The offices at Bangalore and Kolkata also maintain regional Libraries with sizeable collections.

Under the Archives of Indian Literature Project Sahitya Akademi collects and preserves material connected with writers. So far films on more than 50 writers have been produced and there are several audio and video recordings, photographs  and manuscripts.

There is hardly any significant writer or translator  in post-Independent India who has not taken part in an Akademi programme or undertaken a project. Sahitya Akademi has built bridges among communities, regions and languages and has provided a meeting ground for writers of diverse attitudes and ideologies.

The Department  of  Posts  is  happy  to  issue  a commemorative postage stamp on Sahitya Akademi.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India