From Sonu Sood, Gulzar, Amitav Ghosh to Shashi Tharoor, a glittering list of authors to be awarded at KLF 2021

Kolkata: In recent times, Bollywood actor Sonu Sood, made it to the headlines for helping the poor migrant workers and for his philanthropic works. He was so active in helping the migrants during Covid-19’s first wave that he was termed as Messiah by many. But the actor was in no mood to be termed as the messiah, so he co-authored with journalist Meena Iyer a book, I Am No Messiah. The debut book by the actor has now been selected for the Kalinga Book Awards.

This year’s Kalinga Book Awards has been announced by the Kalinga Literary Festival, the authors selected for the award includes poet Gulzaar, politician Shashi Tharoor, author Amitava Ghosh, Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar, former governor and ex-diplomat Gopalkrishna Gandhi.

Significantly, senior journalist and political analyst Rasheed Kidwai who authored many political memoirs like Sonia, a Biography; 24 Akbar Road; Neta Abhineta, The House of Scindia and now written his first Hindi book Bharat Ke Pradhan Mantri, and Shirish Khare whose Ek Desh Barah Dunia is getting rave review are among the winners.

The annual Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) which has been organized for seven years now but because of Covid-19 restrictions could not get held physically in 2020 will be organized at Bhubaneswar on 10, 11, and 12 December this year.

“KLF Book Awards jury members have chosen the best thought-provoking contributions across different categories published during 2020-21. The objective is to contribute to debates and discourses in the national and global public sphere and encourage more thoughtful, reflective, unique and inspiring contributions. Dedicated sessions on these books by the authors and erudite reviewers to conduct intellectual discussions at the Kalinga Literary Festival,” said Rashmi Ranjan Parida, founder and director of KLF.

Besides the annual programme being organised under the aegis of KLF, it has three other popular festivals in its fold: Mystic Kalinga Festival, Kandhamal Literary Festival and Maithili Literary Festival.

KLF Book Awards: Complete list of winners. Categories & Selected Titles for the year 2020-21

KLF Fiction Book of the Year Award 2020-21 (5):

I. Jahnavi Baruah’s “Undertow”, Penguin Random House India (2020)

II. Namita Gokhale and Malashri Lal’s “Betrayed by Hope: A Play on the Life of Michael Madhusudan Dutt”, HarperCollins India (2020)

III. Tarana Husain Khan’s “The Begum and the Dastan”, Tranquebar, Westland (2021)

IV. Ashwani Sanghi’s “The Vault of Vishnu”, Westland (2020)

V. Ashok Kaul’s “Undercover in Bandipore”, Vitasta Publishing Pvt Ltd (2020)

KLF Non-fiction Book of the Year Award 2020-21 (7):

I. Sandeep Bamzai’s “Princestan: How Nehru, Patel and Mountbatten Made India”, Rupa Publications (2020)

II. Shashi Tharoor & Samir Saran’s “The New World Disorder”, Aleph Book Company (2020)

III. Vinay Sitapati’s “Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi”, Penguin Viking-Penguin Random House India (2020)

IV. Pavan K Varma’s “The Great Hindu Civilisation: Achievement, Neglect, Bias and the Way Forward”, Westland (2021)

V. T M Krishna’s “A Brief History of Mrdangam Makers”, Context, Westland (2020)

VI. Ashutosh Bhardwaj’s “The Death Script”, HarperCollins India (2020)

VII. Prem Prakash’s “Reporting India”, Ebury Press, Penguin Random House India (2020)

KLF Poetry Book of the Year Award 2020-21 (5):

I. Gulzar’s “A Poem a Day”, HarperCollins India (2020)

II. Abhay K’s “Kalidasa: Meghduta-The Cloud Messenger” & “Kalidasa: Ritusamhara-The Six Seasons” (Jointly), Bloomsbury (2021)

III. Greta Rana’s “From Castleford to Kathmandu”, Vajra Books (2021)

IV. Basant Chaudhary’s “Anek Pal aaur Mai”, Vani Prakashan (2021)

KLF Hindi Book of the Year Award 2020-21 (5):

I. Neelakshi Singh’s “Khela”, Setu Prakashan (2021)

II. Alka Saraogi’s “Kulbhooshan Ka Naam Darj Kijiye”, Vani Prakashan (2020)

III. Mamta Kalia’s “Ravi Katha: Andaaz-E-Bayan Urf Ravi Katha”, Vani Prakashan (2020)

IV. Praveen Kumar Jha’s “Wah Ustad”, Rajpal & Sons (2020)

V. Shirish Khare’s “Ek Desh Barah Duniya”, Rajpal & Sons (2021)

KLF Book in Translation of the Year Award 2020-21 (1):

I. Perumal Murugan’s “Estuary”-Translated by Nandini Krishnan, Eka, Westland (2020)

KLF Bhasa Award 2020-21 (1):

I. Manoranjan Byapari’s “The Runaway Boy”, Eka, Westland (2020)

KLF Debut Book Award 2020-21 (1):

I. Sonu Sood & Meena Iyer’s “I am no Messiah”, Penguin eBury Press (2020)

KLF Business Book of the Year Award 2020-21 (3):

I. R C Bhargava’s “Getting Competitive: A Practitioner’s Guide for India”, HarperCollins India (2020)

II. Urjit Patel’s “Overdraft”, HarperCollins India (2020)

III. Tamal Bandyopadhyay’s “Pandemonium: The Great Indian Banking Tragedy”, Roli Books (2020)

KLF Diplomacy/Strategic Affairs Book of the Year Award 2020-21 (3):

I. S Jaishankar’s “The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World”, HarperCollins India (2020)

II. Zorawar Daulet Singh’s “Powershift: India-China Relations in a Multipolar World”, Pan Macmillan (2020)

III. Subramanian Swamy’s “Himalayan Challenge: India, China and the Quest for Peace”, Rupa Publications (2020)

KLF Environmental Book of the Year Award 2020-21 (2):

I. Shekhar Pathak’s “Hari Bhari Ummid”, Vani Prakashan (2020)/ The Chipko Movement: A People’s History, Permanent Black (2020)

II. Amitav Ghosh’s “Jungle Nama”, Fourth Estate India-HarperCollins India, (2021)

KLF Women/Dalit/Tribal/Minorities Literature Award 2020-21 (5):

I. Gopinath Mohanty’s “Harijan: A Novel”-Translated by Bikram Das, Aleph Book Company (2021)

II. Sudarshan Ramabadran and Guru Prakash Paswan’s “Makers of Modern Dalit History”, Penguin Random House India (2021)

III. A Plate of White Marble (Shwet Patharer Thala) by Bani Basu (Translated by Nandini Guha), Niyogi Books (2020)

IV. Pradeep Srivastav’s “Ramvilas Paswan: Sankalp, Sahas aaur Sangharsh”, Penguin Random House India (2020)

V. Shafey Kidwai’s “Sir Syed Ahmad Khan: Reason, Religion and Nation”, Routledge (2021)

KLF Biography/Autobiography Book of the Year Award 2020-21 (5):

I. Tenzin Geyche Tethong’s “His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama: An Illustrated Biography”, Roli Books (2020)

II. Gopalkrishna Gandhi’s “Restless as Mercury: My Life as a Young Man Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi”, Aleph Book Company (2021)

III. Yatindra Mishra’s “Akhtari: The Life and Music of Begum Akhtar”, HarperCollins India (2021)

IV. Rasheed Kidwai’s “Bharat Ke Pradhan Mantri”, Rajkamal Prakashan (2021)

V. John Zubrzycki’s The House of Jaipur: The Inside Story of India’s Most Glamorous Royal Family, Juggernaut (2020)

KLF Children Book of the Year Award 2020-21 (2):

I. Ruskin Bond’s “Miracle at Happy Bazaar: My Best Stories for Children”, Aleph Book Company (2020)

II. Sudha Murthy’s “Grandparents’ Bag of Stories”, Puffin, Penguin Random House India (2020)

KLF Sports Book of the Year Award 2020-21 (1):

I. Ramachandra Guha’s “The Commonwealth of Cricket”, HarperCollins India (2020)

KLF Lifestyle & Emerging Trend Book Award 2020-21(1):

I. Rujuta Diwekar’s “Eating in the Age of Dieting”, Westland (2020)