Legendary writer Amitav Ghosh won the Crossword Lifetime Achievement Award.
The honors were also distributed among six diverse categories such as Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children’s Books, Business & Management, Mind, Body & Spirit, and Translations. The awards, known for recognizing outstanding works in various genres, were announced on Sunday 8th December at a grand function held at The LaLiT, Mumbai.
“The awards celebrate not just incredible authors and their stories, but the entire ecosystem that brings books to life.” said Aakash Gupta, CEO of Crossword Book Stores, adding that Crossword will strive to nurture a culture of reading for generations to come.
First-time novelist Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari receives Jury Award for fiction for his novel Chronicle of an Hour and a Half published by Westland Books, while the Popular Choice Award for the same category went to Twinkle Khanna for her book Welcome to Paradise published by Juggernaut Books.
In the non-fiction category, the Jury Award went to Zeyad Masroor Khan for City on Fire published by HarperCollins Publishers India while the Popular Choice Award was bagged by Lt Gen. K.J.S. ‘Tiny’ Dhillon (Retd) for his book Kitne Ghazi Aaye Kitne Ghazi Gaye published by Penguin Random House India.
The Jury Award for children’s book was shared by Andaleeb Wajid for The Henna Start-up published by Penguin Random House India and: Shabnam Minwalla for Zen published by Penguin Random House India while the Popular Choice Award for the same category went to veteran writer Ruskin Bond’s All-time Favourite Nature Stories published by Penguin Random House India.
Karthik Muralidharan’s Accelerating India’s Development published by Penguin Random House India bagged the Jury Award for business and management while the Popular Choice Award for the same category wentto Radhakrishnan Pillai’s Chanakya’s 100 Best Sutras published by Jaico Publishing House.
Jury Award for translations went to Malayalam writer Sandhya Mary, translated by Jayasree Kalathil for Maria Just Maria published by HarperCollins Publishers India. Tamil writer Charu Nivedita’s Conversations with Aurangzeb, translated by Nandini Krishnan, published by HarperCollins Publishers India bagged the Popular Choice Award.
In the mind body and spirit category Gaur Gopal Das’s Energize Your Mind published by Penguin Random House India received the Popular Choice Award.
Nidhi Gupta, Director of Crossword Bookstores said, “the awards are a remarkable celebration of talent, creativity, and literary achievement”.