The highest honour conferred by the Akademi on a writer is by electing him as its Fellow. This honour is reserved for `the immortals of literature' and limited to twenty-one only at any given time.

Sahitya Akademi Fellows

2010

1. Dr. Bholabhai Patel (1934)
2. Sri Kunwar Narain (1927)
3. Sri Khushwant Singh (1915)
4. Professor Kedar Nath Singh (1934)
5. Professor Chandranath Mishra 'Amar' (1925)

2009

1. Sri Ramakanta Rath (1934)
2. Professor Gopi Chand Narang (1931)

2007

1. Professor Anita Desai (1937)
2. Dr. Kartar Singh Duggal (1917)
3. Sri Ravindra Kelekar (1925-2010)

2006

1. Sri Manoj Das (1934)
2. Sri Vishnu Prabhakar (1914-2009)

2004

1. Professor U.R. Anantha Murthy (1925)
2. Smt. Amrita Pritam (1919-2005)
3. Sri Sankha Ghosh (1932)
4. Sri Vijay Dan Detha (1926)
5. Professor Bh. Krishnamurti (1928)
6. Sri Nirmal Verma (1929-2005)
7. Sri Kovilan (V. V. Ayyappan) (1923)

2002

1. Sri Kaifi Azmi (1925-2002)
2. Sri Nilmani Phookan (1933)
3. Sri Bhisham Sahni (1915-2003)
4. Sri Govind Chandra Pandey (1923)

2001

1. Professor Ram Nath Shastri (1914-2009)

2000

1. Professor R.N. Dandekar (1909-2001)
2. Professor Rahman Rahi (1925)

1999

1. Sri Ram Vilas Sharma (1912-2000)
2. Sri Rajendra Shah (1913)
3. Sri Gunturu Seshendra Sharma (1927-2007)
4. Sri Syed Abdul Malik (1919-2000)
5. Pandit N. Khelchandra Singh (1920)
6. Sri K.S. Narasimhaswamy (1915)

1996

1. Sri Sachidananda Raut-Roy (1916-2004)
2. Ms. Krishna Sobti (1925)
3. Professor Vidya Niwas Mishra (1926 -2005)
4. Sri Vinda Karandikar (1918-2010)
5. Sri Subhas Mukhopadhyay (1919-2003)
6. Sri D. Jayakanthan (1934)
   
7. Sri Raja Rao (1908-2006)

1994

1. Smt. Ashapurna Devi (1909-1995)
2. Sri R.K. Narayan (1906-2001)
3. Dr. P.T. Narasimhachar (1905-1998)
4. Smt. N. Balamani Amma (1909-2004)
5. Dr. V.B. Kolte (1908-1998)
6. Ms. Qurratulain Hyder (1927-2007)
7. Sri Kanhu Charan Mohanty (1906-1994)
8. Dr. Harbhajan Singh (1919-2002)
9. Sri Nagarjun (1911-1998)

1989

1. Sri Tarkateertha Laxmanshastri Joshi (1901-1994)
2. Sri Annada Shankar Ray (1904-2002)
3. Dr. Mulk Raj Anand (1905-2004)
4. Professor Vinayak Krishna Gokak (1909-1992)
5. Sri Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai (1912-1999)
6. Sri Amritlal Nagar (1916-1990)

1985

1. Professor K.R. Srinivasa Iyengar (1908-1999)
2. Professor Umashankar Joshi (1911-1988)
3. Dr. K. Shivarama Karanth (1902-1997)

1979

1. Sri A.R. Deshpande `Anil' (1901-1982)
2. Sri Jainendra Kumar (1905-1988)
3. Dr. K.V. Puttappa `Kuvempu' (1904-1994)
4. Dr. V. Raghavan (1908-1979)
5. Susri Mahadevi Varma (1907-1987)

1975

1. Professor T.P. Meenakshisundaran (1899-1980)