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 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.
The prize was first awarded in 2008 to Mohammad Hanif for his novel, A Case of Exploding Mangoes. In 2020, the new Shakti Bhatt Prize was awarded to incarcerated scholars and writers Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha.
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. In 2025, it was announced that the award will be discontinued from next year.
Eligibility and Criteria 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.
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."
The Award initially carried a cash prize of . In 2014, the prize amount was increased to ₹200,000.
Awards
2008–2019 YearJuryShortlistWinner2008William Dalrymple
Kamila Shamsie
Samit Basu David Devadas, In Search of a Future: The Story of Kashmir Amruta Patil, Kari Sridala Swami, A Reluctant Survivor Namita Devidayal, The White Room Aravind Adiga, White Tiger Mohammad Hanif, A Case of Exploding Mangoes Pallavi Aiyar, An Experience of ChinaMohammad Hanif, A Case of Exploding Mangoes2009Rana Dasgupta
Mukund Padmanabhan
Arshia Sattar Chandrahas Choudhury, Arzee the Dwarf Parismita Singh, Hotel at the End of the World, Palash Krishna Mehrotra, Eunuch Park, (Penguin) Mimlu Sen, Baulsphere, Anuradha Roy, An Atlas of Impossible Longing Mridula Koshy, If It is SweetMridula Koshy, If It is Sweet2010Mahesh Dattani
Kalpana Swaminathan
Ruchir Joshi. HM Naqvi, Homeboy Mohyna Srinivasan, House on Mall Road Fatima Bhutto, Songs of Blood and Sword: A Daughter's Memoir Ali Sethi, The Wish Maker Vishwajyoti Ghosh, Delhi Calm Samanth Subramaniam, Following FishSamanth Subramaniam, Following Fish2011Sarnath Banerjee
Jai Arjun Singh
Palash Mehrotra Aman Sethi, A Free Man A. Revathi, The Truth About Me Mirza Waheed, The Collaborator Jamil Ahmad, The Wandering Falcon Anirudha Bhattacharjee & Balaji Vittal, R. D. Burman: The Man The Music Shehan Karunatilaka, Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep MathewJamil Ahmad, The Wandering Falcon2012David Godwin
Tishani Doshi
Basharat Peer Navneet Jagannatha, Tamasha in Bandargaon Priyamvada N. Purushotham, The Purple Line Sudha Shah, The King in Exile Taj Hassan, The Inexplicable Unhappiness of Ramu Hajjam Naresh Fernandes, Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombay's Jazz Age Bunny Suraiya, Calcutta ExileNaresh Fernandes, Taj Mahal Foxtrot: The Story of Bombay's Jazz Age2013Meena Kandasamy
Sunil Khilnani
Niven Govinden Janice Pariat, Boats on Land Akash Kapur, India Becoming Chetan Raj Shreshta, The King’s Harvest Nilanjana Roy,The Wildings Sonora Jha, Foreign Aranyani, A Pleasant Kind of Heavy and Other StoriesNilanjana Roy,The Wildings2014Amit Chaudhuri
Aatish Taseer
Mridula Koshy Deepti Kapoor, A Bad Character Bilal Tanweer, The Scatter Here Is Too Great Prawin Adhikari, The Vanishing Act Supriya Dravid, A Cool, Dark Place Shovon Chowdhury, The Competent Authority Mahesh Rao, The Smoke Is RisingBilal Tanweer, The Scatter Here Is Too Great2015Samhita Arni
Mohammed Hanif
Krys Lee Indra Das, The Devourers Saskya Jain, Fire Under Ash Raghu Karnad, The Farthest Field Rohini Mohan, The Seasons of Trouble Bharath Murthy, The Vanished Path Shahid Siddiqui, The Golden PigeonRohini Mohan, The Seasons of Trouble2016Samanth Subramaniam
Mahesh Rao
Janice Pariat Manu S Pillai, The Ivory Throne Madhu Gurung, The Keeper of Memories Sophia Khan, Yasmeen Nisid Hajari, Midnight’s Furies Kanishk Tharoor, Swimmer Among the Stars Akshaya Mukul, The Gita Press and the Making of Hindu IndiaAkshaya Mukul, The Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India2017Kamila Shamsie
Rohini Mohan
Margaret Mascarenhas Anuk Arudpragasam,The Story of a Brief Marriage Prayaag Akbar, Leila Hirsh Sawhney, South Haven Sumana Roy, How I Became a Tree Tripti Lahiri, Maid In India Tejaswini Apte-Rahm, These Circuses that Sweep Through the LandscapeAnuk Arudpragasam,The Story of a Brief Marriage2018Githa Hariharan
Sampurna Chattarji
Raghu Karnad Preti Taneja, We That Are Young Deepak Unnikrishnan,Temporary People Aanchal Malhotra, Remnants of a Separation Sanam Maher, The Sensational Life and Death of Qandeel Baloch, Shreevatsa Nevatia, How to Travel Light Sujatha Gidla, Ants Among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern IndiaSujatha Gidla, Ants Among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India2019Sonia Faleiro
Prayaag Akbar
Ruskin Bond Numair Atif Choudhury, Babu Bangladeshi Priyanka Dubey, No Nation for Women Nadia Akbar, Goodbye Freddie Mercury Tony Joseph, Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came Roshan Ali, Ib’s Endless Search for SatisfactionTony Joseph, Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came
2020–2025 Year Honorees2020Gautam Navlakha, Anand Teltumbde 2021No prize awarded: prize funds were donated to relief efforts relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in India.2022Manoranjan Byapari2024Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih, for his body of work.2025Zara Chowdhary, The Lucky Ones (memoir)
References