Promoting Indian writings…

Crossword Bookstore, in association with Principal Retirement Advisors, announced the winners for the prestigious The Crossword Book Awards 2013.
The finest of Indian literature took center stage at Crossword Book Awards 2013 as the country’s finest writers and their books were honoured at a glittering award function at Mehboob Studios, Mumbai. The awards this year was presented by ARROW and in association with Principal Retirement Advisors. It was hosted by Suchitra Pillai and the evening included a memorable performance by Taufiq Qureshi.

The 12th edition saw an outstanding response, from the various distinguished writers, publishers, critics and book-lovers who enjoyed the biggest celebration of Indian literature. Shortlisted authors Rahul Pandita, S Hussain Zaidi, Rashmi Bansal, Ravi Subramanian, Arunava Sinha, Jerry Pinto, Janice Pariat, Anand Neelkantan, Anuja Chauhan, Ashwin Sanghi, Ananya Vajpeyi, Anushka Ravishankar, Himanjali Sankar, Payal Kapadia, Ranjit Lal, Dr M Asaduddin, Anchita Ghatak, Rabisankar Bal were present at this well-attended event.
This year The Crossword Book Award 2013 followed the financial year module and considered entries published in India from 1st January 2012 to 31st March 2013. This year, they considered 15 months for the entry process and from next year onwards entries from April 2013 to March 2014 will be considered eligible.

The winning entries…

• Em and The Big Hoom by Jerry Pinto (Aleph) and Boats on Land by Janice Pariat (Random House) have jointly won in the Indian Fiction category.
• Righteous Republic by Ananya Vajpeyi (Harvard Business Press) and From the Ruins of Empire by Pankaj Mishra (Penguin) have jointly won the award for Indian Non-Fiction category.
• Wisha Wozzariter by Payal Kapadia (Penguin) and Book Uncle and Me by Uma Krishnaswami (Scholastic) have jointly won the award in the Children’s category.
• A Life in Words by Ismat Chughtai, translated by Dr M Asaduddin (Penguin) has won it in the Indian Language Translation category.
• The Bankster by Ravi Subramanian (Rupa Publications) has won the Popular Award.

The Awards…

Crossword Book Award is the only Indian award that recognizes and rewards good writing and also actively promotes Indian authors and their books. Last year the award received 329 valid entries in the above mentioned categories and this year, they have received 552 valid entries, thus making the awards representative of the best of contemporary Indian literature.