06 June, 2016

Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize 2016: call for entries

The Shakti Bhatt Foundation is inviting entries for the 2016 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize. In its ninth year, the prize is a cash award of 2 lakh rupees, and a trophy. Submissions in the following genres are invited: poetry, fiction, graphic novels, creative non-fiction (travel writing, autobiography, biography and narrative journalism), and drama.

The deadline for publishers and individuals to send in first books is July 15, 2016. Books published between June 2015 and June 2016 are eligible. The winner will be announced in November and the prize presentation will take place in Delhi, December 2016.

Authors from the subcontinent are eligible but books must be published in India. (The cheque to a winning author outside India and elsewhere in the subcontinent will be given to his/her Indian publishers, or the author’s nominees in India.) Publications must be in English or translated into English from an Indian language. Vanity press publications are ineligible.

This year’s shortlist will be put together by poet and author Jeet Thayil, and author Arshia Sattar, who runs the Sangam House international writers' residency program. Three judges (to be announced) will pick the winning entry.

Books should be sent to the following addresses:
One copy to
The Shakti Bhatt Foundation,
C-6/36, First Floor, SDA,
New Delhi 110016

Two copies to:
The Shakti Bhatt Foundation,
011, Maangalya Residences,
6/1, Benson Cross Road,
Bangalore 560046

For further information, mail shaktibhattprize at gmail dot com.