The nominations for Crossword Book Awards 2024 are out; check here!

The Crossword Book Award, one of the most prestigious literary awards in the country is back after a hiatus of five years. Launched in 1998, it is one of the longest running awards in India, and aims to recognise and celebrate Indian writing in English across several categories and segments.

This year, the entries for the five categories—Fiction, Non-fiction, Children’s, Translations, and Business and Management—opened on March 18 and saw hundreds of submissions from publishers around the country for books published in the English language in India from March 1, 2023 to March 1, 2024.

The winners of the Jury Awards and the Popular Choice Awards in each category will receive a cash prize of Rs 50,000. The translators (in the Translations category) and illustrators (in the Children’s category) will be awarded Rs 25,000 wherever applicable.

After reading and deliberating on all the eligible books, the three-member Jury in each category, comprising some of the most distinguished and acclaimed names from the literary world.

The Crossword Book Awabrings together the entire literary community—readers, authors, booksellers and publishers alike. It is the Indian award that recognizes and rewards the finest of Indian writing in English, as selected by the Jury, and actively promotes Indian authors and their books. In addition to the Jury Awards, the eligible books are also open to be voted on by readers, the results of which will constitute the Popular Choice Awards. 

The Jury for this year’s Award constitutes respected literary figures from a range of experiences and expertise. In the Fiction category, the three-member panel is composed of Prayaag Akbar, award-winning author, journalist and mentor, Manjula Narayan, Books Editor and Podcast host at Hindustan Times, and Somak Ghoshal, writer and critic. In the Non-fiction category, the Jury consists of TCA Raghavan, former diplomat and author, Kaveree Bamzai, senior journalist, writer and editor, and Anuradha Sengupta, journalist and editor. The panel for the Children’s category comprises Paro Anand, Sahitya Akademi awardee, writer and children’s literature activist, Bulbul Sharma, the acclaimed painter and writer, and Parvati Sharma, the renowned writer and author of children’s books.

In the Translations category the judges include Arshia Sattar, award-winning translator and writer, Nandini Nair, Arts and Literary journalist and editor, and Malashri Lal, academic and writer. The Business and Management category has a judging panel composed of Khozem Merchant, former journalist and head of Brunswick India, R. Sriram, the noted entrepreneur and business advisor, and Shaili Chopra, author and founder of SheThePeople and Gytree.

Speaking about the Crossword Book Award and its return, Aakash Gupta, CEO of Crossword Bookstores, said, “As we bring back the Crossword Book Awards, we aim to celebrate the rich tapestry of Indian literature and honor the voices that shape our literary landscape. This event is not just about recognizing excellence; it’s also about inspiring future generations to explore the power of storytelling and the joy of reading.”

A few nominations include History’s Angel, by Anjum Hasan; Never, Never Land, by Namita Gokhale; The Memoirs of Valmiki Rao, by Lindsay Pereira for Fiction. In the non-fiction category, From Phansi Yard, by Sudha Bhardwaj; The Day I Became a Runner, by Sohini Chattopadhyay; City on Fire, by Zeyad Masroor Khan; Swadeshi Steam, by  A. R. Venkatachalapathy and more are selected.

Beneath the Simolu Tree, by Sarmishtha Pritam, tr from Assamese by Ranjita Biswas Boy, Unloved, by Damodar Mauzo, tr from Konkani by Jerry Pinto are selected for Translations among others. For Children’s category, books like Zen, by Shabnam Minwalla; The Henna Start-Up, by Andaleeb Wajid Bipathu and a Very Big Dream, by Anita Nair; The Case of the Vanishing Gods, by Mallika Ravikumar and more have been selected. Books like Accelerating India's Development: A State-led Roadmap For Effective Governance, by Karthik Muralidharan; Al Rising: India's Artificial Intelligence Growth Story, by Leslie D’Monte and Jayanth N.  Kolla are selected for Business and Management category.

The shortlist for the Crossword Book Award 2024 will be announced on November 11. The voting lines for the Popular Choice Awards will be opening soon. The final Awards ceremony is scheduled to take place in Mumbai on December 12 with some of the most acclaimed writers, artistes and industry leaders in attendance.