‘The Lost Heer’ by Harleen Singh and ‘The Undying Light’ by Gopalkrishna Gandhi on literary awards shortlist

The shortlists for the Godrej Literature Live! Literary Awards for fiction, non-fiction and business are out and feature some of the best books that came out in the past year. The awards aim to recognise and encourage literary talent across these genres, among both established and new writers. The awards are one of the highlights of the annual Mumbai LitFest. The winners would be announced at the festival’s finale on November 9.

Here is the shortlist in each category:

Fiction

Island by Sujit Saraf (Speaking Tiger)

Rising Sons by Kavery Nambisan (Penguin Random House India)

The Last Knot by Shabir Ahmad Mir (Pan Macmillan India)

Non-Fiction

Golwalkar: The Myth Behind the Man, The Man Behind the Machine by Dhirendra K Jha (Simon and Schuster India)

The Identity Project: The Unmaking of a Democracy by Rahul Bhatia (Westland Books)

The Undying Light: A Personal History of Independent India by Gopalkrishna Gandhi (Aleph Book Company)

Best First Book - Fiction

Hot Water by Bhavika Govil (HarperCollins Publishers India)

The Dead Know Nothing by Kishore Ram (Penguin Random House India)

The Fertile Earth by Ruthvika Rao (Penguin Random House India)

Best First Book - Non-Fiction

Rama Bhima Soma: Cultural Investigations into Modern Karnataka by Srikar Raghavan (Westland Books)

The Lost Heer: Women in Colonial Punjab by Harleen Singh (Penguin Random House India)

The Lucky Ones: A Memoir by Zara Chowdhary (Westland Books)

Business Book of the Year

A Fly on the RBI Wall: An Insider’s View of the Central Bank by Alpana Killawala (Rupa Publications)

Ratan Tata: A Life by Thomas Mathew (HarperCollins Publishers India)

The Money Trap: Grand Fortunes and Lost Illusions Inside the Tech Bubble by Alok Sama (Pan Macmillan India)

Each award category is decided by an eminent jury. For fiction, the jury included Akhil Katyal, poet, translator, author, and activist; Anil Menon, author and editor; Dolly Thakore, theatre artiste, casting director and author; K Srilata, poet, translator, author and academician; and Shireen Mistry, communications professional and associate festival director, Literature Live! In the non-fiction category, judges included Ajit Ranade, economist, academician and public commentator; Ayaz Memon, journalist and author; Jean Da Cunha, sociologist, author, former UN Official; Nirupama Subramanian, journalist, editor and author; Tina Nagpaul, filmmaker and associate festival director, Literature Live!

For the business category, Alka Puri, philanthropist and social impact leader; Bhaskar Dasgupta, Fintech and regulatory strategist and policy advisor; Kavita Hurry, banking strategist and business consultant; Manisha Girotra, investment banking leader; and journalist-columnist Sitaraman Shankar were among the jury members.

Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest will be held from November 7-9 at the NCPA at Nariman Point.