the sahitya akademi's constitution provides for the appointment of 'honorary fellows' of the akademi "from among literary persons of outstanding merit who are not nationals of india". the number of such fellowships is limited to ten individuals at any given time, an increase from the original provision for five fellows. the first honorary fellow of the akademi was appointed in 1974: the poet, the first president of senegal, and theorist of négritude léopold sédar senghor. the citation provided to him records that "senghor is one of the leading literary figures of the african continent. as a linguist he has been working to establish links between dravidian, sumerian, ancient egyptian and african languages..." in his acceptance speech, senghor described himself as an "old admmirer of the indian civilisation," emphasizing his fondness for the poetry of indian poet rabindranath tagore.