MUMBAI: "Popular choice" is not a phrase many would associate with the world of books. But the 12th edition of the Crossword Book Awards that took place at the Times Literary Carnival on Friday, made a happy exception.
At the event hosted by actor Suchitra Pillai, author Ravi Subramanian, also known as the "John Grisham of banking", bagged the award for the popular choice category for his book 'The Bankster'. This year's fiction, non-fiction, and children's writing categories saw two winners each. 'Em and The Big Hoom' by Jerry Pinto and 'Boats on Land' by Janice Pariat jointly won in the Indian fiction category while authors Ananya Vajpeyi and Pankaj Mishra won the prize for the best non-fiction non-fiction for 'Righteous Republic' and 'From The Ruins Of Empire' respectively. Besides, 'Wisha Wozzariter' by Payal Kapadia and 'Book Uncle and Me' by Uma Krishnaswami jointly won the award for children's writing. "This is the perfect cure for writer's block," said Kapadia, while accepting the award. Ismat Chugtai's 'A Life In Words' translated by Dr M Asaduddin, won in the Indian language translation category. Each award carried a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh, a trophy and a citation. The popular choice category, whose winner was decided by readers, boasted a prize money of Rs 1 lakh.
The 500-odd entries received this year were assessed by four jury members over the last six months by a distinguished panel. "We read a heartening and dizzying variety of fiction from crime to literary sagas on various subjects, some with very interesting and unexpected illustrations," said writer Usha K R, a jury member for the fiction category. "Magically, all three of us jury members for the category shortlisted the same five books," she added.
The non-fiction category saw around 162 entries. "Indian writing in non fiction has learnt to combine the art of dealing with large things intelligently and in a manner that would appeal to the layman too," said Harsh Sethi, consultant editor Semiar Magazine who was a jury member for non-fiction. R Sriram, founder of the Crossword Bookstores, said, "Whenever people ask me for recommendations, I turn to the Crossword shortlist." The event was punctuated by a riveting performance by percussionist Taufiq Qureshi.
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