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Shakti Bhatt Prize
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| Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for the first book published an author in India | |
| Country | India |
| Presented by | Shakti Bhatt Foundation |
| Reward | ₹200,000[1] |
| Established | 2007 |
| First award | 2008 |
| Final award | 2025 |
The Shakti Bhatt Prize is a literary award established in 2007 in memory of Indian publisher, Shakti Bhatt. Between 2008 and 2019, it was awarded for first books published in India by an author of any age in the genres of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction and drama. From 2020 onward, the Prize has been awarded in recognition of a writer's body of work, instead of a first book. The last award will be given in 2025 to Zara Chowdhary for her memoir The Lucky Ones.
Establishment
[edit]The Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize was established by an eponymous foundation in memory of Shakti Bhatt, an Indian publisher. Bhatt, the editor of Indian publishing house, Bracket Books, died following an illness in 2007. The Shakti Bhatt Foundation was established in her memory by her husband, Indian poet Jeet Thayil, along other friends and family; the foundation funds and manages the award.[2][3][4]
The prize was first awarded in 2008 to Mohammad Hanif for his novel, A Case of Exploding Mangoes.[5] In 2020, the new Shakti Bhatt Prize was awarded to incarcerated scholars and writers Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha.[6]
In May 2021, the Foundation announced that there would be no prize for 2021, and instead donated the prize money towards relief efforts relating to the Covid-19 pandemic in India.[7] In 2025, it was announced that the award will be discountinued from next year.[8]
Eligibility and Criteria
[edit]Between 2008 and 2019, the Award was open to nominations of first books published during the previous year in the Indian subcontinent within the categories of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and drama. Eligible books were either written in English, or translated into English from other languages. Publications from vanity presses were excluded.[2][9]
In 2020, Thayil announced that the Prize would now be awarded to recognize a writer's body of work, rather than a first book. Speaking about the changes, Thayil stated, "It just seems to us that at this point (in 2020) it does not make sense to have a first book prize. When we started nobody was doing it. In time, first books came up in many shortlists. In fact, there were copycats for just first books prize as well. We just did not see the relevance. So, we wanted to give it to somebody where it will make a difference."[6]
The Award initially carried a cash prize of ₹100,000 (equivalent to ₹120,000 or US$1,400 in 2023).[2] In 2014, the prize amount was increased to ₹200,000.[6][10]
Awards
[edit]2008–2019
[edit]| Year | Jury | Shortlist | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008[11] | William Dalrymple |
|
Mohammad Hanif, A Case of Exploding Mangoes[5] |
| 2009[12] | Rana Dasgupta
Mukund Padmanabhan |
|
Mridula Koshy, If It is Sweet[13] |
| 2010[14] | Mahesh Dattani |
|
Samanth Subramaniam, Following Fish[15][9] |
| 2011[16] | Sarnath Banerjee
Jai Arjun Singh Palash Mehrotra |
|
Jamil Ahmad, The Wandering Falcon[17][18] |
| 2012[19] | David Godwin |
|
Naresh Fernandes, Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombay's Jazz Age[20] |
| 2013[21] | Meena Kandasamy |
|
Nilanjana Roy,The Wildings[22] |
| 2014[10] | Amit Chaudhuri |
|
Bilal Tanweer, The Scatter Here Is Too Great[23][24] |
| 2015[25] | Samhita Arni |
|
Rohini Mohan, The Seasons of Trouble[26] |
| 2016[27] | Samanth Subramaniam
Mahesh Rao |
|
Akshaya Mukul, The Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India[28] |
| 2017[29] | Kamila Shamsie |
|
Anuk Arudpragasam,The Story of a Brief Marriage[30] |
| 2018[31] | Githa Hariharan
Sampurna Chattarji |
|
Sujatha Gidla, Ants Among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India[32] |
| 2019[33] | Sonia Faleiro |
|
Tony Joseph, Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came[34] |
2020–2025
[edit]| Year | Honorees |
|---|---|
| 2020 | Gautam Navlakha, Anand Teltumbde[6] |
| 2021 | No prize awarded: prize funds were donated to relief efforts relating to the Covid-19 pandemic in India.[7] |
| 2022 | Manoranjan Byapari[35] |
| 2024 | Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih,The Shakti Bhatt Prize for 2024 was awarded to Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih, a Khasi poet, novelist, and dramatist from Meghalaya, for his body of work.[36] |
| 2025 | Zara Chowdhary, The Lucky Ones (memoir)[8] |
References
[edit]- ^ Chakrabarti, Paromita (2022-09-15). "Bengali writer Manoranjan Byapari wins the 2022 Shakti Bhatt Prize". The Indian Express. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
- ^ a b c "Remembering Shakti Bhatt: The Shakti Bhatt Foundation announces the inaugural 2008 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize". Remembering Shakti Bhatt. 2007-09-22. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ Mishra, Gaurav (2007-04-05). "Bloggers in India Mourn the Untimely Death of Shakti Bhatt · Global Voices". Global Voices. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ Taneja, Preti (2018-02-09). "Jeet Thayil: 'I have a liver condition, I'm reckless and I'm very aware that time is limited'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ a b "A Case of Exploding Talent - Indian Express". archive.indianexpress.com. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ a b c d "Revamped Shakti Bhatt prize honours activists Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha". The Indian Express. 2020-07-16. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ a b Basu, Rohan Datta & Narayani (2021-05-29). "Why the prize money for Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize 2021 is going to Covid-19 relief". Scroll.in. Retrieved 2021-11-29.
- ^ a b "Zara Chowdhary wins 2025 Shakti Bhatt award for debut memoir". The Hindu. 2025-06-27. Retrieved 2025-06-29.
- ^ a b "Subramanian's debut novel wins prize". Zee News. 2010-12-10. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ a b "Remembering Shakti Bhatt: Bilal Tanweer wins 2014 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize". Remembering Shakti Bhatt. 2014-11-24. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ "Remembering Shakti Bhatt: Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize - Shortlist". Remembering Shakti Bhatt. 2008-08-01. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ "Remembering Shakti Bhatt: The Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize 2009 - Winner". Remembering Shakti Bhatt. 2009-12-07. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ "Writer Mridula Koshy wins 2009 Shakti Bhatt award". Rediff. 2009-12-08. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ "Remembering Shakti Bhatt: The Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize 2010 - Winner". Remembering Shakti Bhatt. 2010-12-04. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ Mande, Abhishek (2010-12-06). "Wandering along India's coast, following fish". Rediff. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ "Remembering Shakti Bhatt: The Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize 2011 - Winner". Remembering Shakti Bhatt. 2011-11-30. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ Ramachandran, Smriti Kak (2011-12-22). "An award after four decades of hibernation". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ Dawn.com (2011-12-11). "The Wandering Falcon wins prize in India". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ "Remembering Shakti Bhatt: Naresh Fernandes's Taj Mahal Foxtrot wins the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize 2012". Remembering Shakti Bhatt. 2012-12-04. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ Staff Reporter (2012-12-05). "Naresh Fernandes wins Shakti Bhatt Prize". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ "Six books on shortlist for Shakti Bhatt Prize". Rediff. 2013-09-01. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ "Nilanjana Roy wins the 2013 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize". Rediff. 2013-11-26. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ Special Correspondent (2014-11-24). "Bilal Tanweer wins Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
{{cite news}}:|author=has generic name (help) - ^ Reporter, The Newspaper's Staff (2014-12-04). "Bilal Tanweer's novel wins Shakti Bhatt book prize". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ "Remembering Shakti Bhatt: Rohini Mohan wins Shakti Bhatt prize". Remembering Shakti Bhatt. 2015-11-24. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ "Author, journalist Rohini Mohan wins Shakti Bhatt prize". The Economic Times. 2015-11-25. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ "Remembering Shakti Bhatt: 2016 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize: short list". Remembering Shakti Bhatt. 2016-08-27. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ Scroll Staff. "Akshaya Mukul's 'Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India' wins Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize 2016". Scroll.in. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ "Remembering Shakti Bhatt: Anuk Arudpragasam's The Story of a Brief Marriage wins the 2017 prize". Remembering Shakti Bhatt. 2017-11-24. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ "After DSC Prize, Arudpragasam bags Shakti Bhatt award". Zee News. 2017-11-22. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ "Remembering Shakti Bhatt: Sujatha Gidla wins Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize 2018". Remembering Shakti Bhatt. 2018-10-19. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ "Sujatha Gidla's Ants Among Elephants bags Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize 2018". The Indian Express. 2018-10-19. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ "Remembering Shakti Bhatt: Tony Joseph wins Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize 2019". Remembering Shakti Bhatt. 2019-12-02. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ "Author Tony Joseph's 'Early Indians' wins 2019 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize". The Hindu. PTI. 2019-12-02. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^ Scroll Staff (2022-09-15). "Bengali author Manoranjan Byapari is the winner of 2022 Shakti Bhatt Book Prize". Scroll.in. Retrieved 2022-09-15.
- ^ "Poet, novelist, and dramatist Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih wins the 2024 Shakti Bhatt Prize". scroll.in. 2024-10-04. Retrieved 2025-08-16.