Who was the first Jnanpith Award winner?

The Jnanpith Award is presented annually by the Bharatiya Jnanpith to an Indian author for his/her outstanding contribution to literature. In includes a cash prize and a Saraswati idol.

G. Sankara Kurup (1901– 1978), a Malayalam poet, won the first Jnanpith Award in 1965, the year of its inception, for his anthology of poems, titled Odakkuzhal.

Ashapoorna Devi (1909 –1995) was the first woman to receive the Jnanpith Award in 1965 for her novel Pratham Pratisruti, the first in a trilogy that included Subarnalata and Bakul Katha. For her contribution to literature, the Sahitya Akademi conferred its highest honour, the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, on her in 1994.