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 18th March and saw hundreds of submissions from publishers around the country for books published in the English language in India from 1st March 2023 to 1st March 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, submitted the long lists of ten books for the 2024 edition of the Awards.
Fiction (Longlist)
History’s Angel, by Anjum Hasan
Never, Never Land, by Namita Gokhale
The Memoirs of Valmiki Rao, by Lindsay Pereira
The East Indian, by Brinda Charry
The Gallery, by Manju Kapur
Quarterlife, by Devika Rege
Can’t, by Shinie Antony
Chronicle of an Hour and a Half, by Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari
Tall Tales By a Small Dog, by Omair Ahmad
Shakchunni, by Arnab Ray
Non-fiction (Longlist)
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
A Part Apart, by Ashok Gopal
Mother Cow Mother India, by Yamini Narayanan
Anger Management, by Ajay Bisaria
Being Hindu Being Indian, by Vanya Vaidehi Bhargav
Marginlands, by Arati Kumar-Rao
Fire on the Ganges, by Radhika Iyengar
Translations (Longlist)
Beneath the Simolu Tree, by Sarmishtha Pritam, tr from Assamese by Ranjita Biswas
Boy, Unloved, by Damodar Mauzo, tr from Konkani by Jerry Pinto
I Named My Sister Silence, by Manoj Rupda, tr from Hindi by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar
Dudiya – In Your Burning Land, by Vishwas Patil, tr from Marathi by Nadeem Khan
Mithun Number Two, by Jayant Kaikini, tr from Kannada by Tejaswini Niranjana
Fire Bird, by Perumal Murugan, tr from Tamil by Janani Kannan
Sakina’s Kiss, by Vivek Shanbhag, tr from Kannada by Srinath Perur
A Woman Burnt, by Imayam, tr from Tamil by GJV Prasad
Maria Just Maria, by Sandhya Mary, tr from Malayalam by Jayasree Kalathil
Fruits of the Barren Tree, by Lekhnath Chhetri, tr from Nepali by Anurag Basnet
Children’s (Longlist)
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
A Children’s History of India in 100 Objects, by Devika Cariapa
Mommies, by Richa Jha and Priya Sebastian
From Makaras to Manticores, by C. G. Salamander and Sheena Deviah
Are There Bun Shops in the Jungles of India? and Other Secret Stories from History, by Nandini Nayar
The Dog with Two Names: Stories that Celebrate Diversity, by Nandita Da Cunha
The Misadventures of a Diamond Thief, by Lubaina Bandukwala
Business and Management (Longlist)
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
Improvement: Exponential Improvements Through Converging Parallels, by Hersh Haladker and Raghunath Anant Mashelkar
Farmer Sutra, by Kalpana Manivannan
Inside the Boardroom: How Behaviour Trumps Rationality, by R. Gopalakrishnan and Tulsi Jayakumar
Lilliput Land: How Small Is Driving India’s Mega Consumption Story, by Rama Bijapurkar
Mastering the Data Paradox, by Nitin Seth
The Eight Per Cent Solution: A Strategy for India’s Growth, by Nikhil Gupta
Unfiltered: The CEO and the Coach, by Ana Lueneburger and Saurabh Mukherjea
When the Chips Are Down, by Pranay Kotasthane and Abhiram Manchi
Instituted in 1998, the Crossword Book Award brings together the entire literary community—readers, authors, booksellers and publishers—like none other. It is the only 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, Mr 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 honour 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.”
The shortlist for the Crossword Book Award 2024 will be announced on 11 November. The voting lines for the Popular Choice Awards will soon open. The final Awards ceremony is scheduled to take place in Mumbai on 12 December, with some of the most acclaimed writers, artists, and industry leaders in attendance.
Crossword Bookstores was founded in 1992 with a simple yet passionate mission – to positively impact the world through the power of reading and learning. With a legacy spanning 32 years and 115 stores across 39 cities today, Crossword has made a place for itself in the heart of the literary community.
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