Banaras Lit Fest 2025 Book Awards announces longlists in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translation

The Banaras Lit Fest has announced the longlists in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and translation categories for its 2025 book awards. Besides English, the awards are also given to Hindi language books.

The shortlist will be announced on February 9. The winners in each category will receive a cash prize of Rs 51,000, along with a certificate and a trophy, during the festival which will be held in Varanasi between March 7 and March 9.

The longlisted books in each category are:

Ruskin Bond Award for Fiction

• The Patient in Bed Number 12, Raj Kamal Jha, Penguin India

• Like Being Alive Twice, Dharini Bhaskar, Penguin India

• Aunties of Vasant Kunj, Anuradha Marwah, Rupa Publications

• Deccan Queen: Take Two, Farrukh Dhondy, Om Book International

• Autumn Blossoms, Gajra Kottary, Om Book International

• Wayel Kati: The Quest of the Seven Guardians, Linthoi Chanu, Niyogi Books

• The New New Delhi Book Club, Radhika Swarup, Westland

• The Forgotten Wife: The Story of Hidimbi and Bhim, Madhavi Mahadevan, Speaking Tiger Books

• Never Never Land, Namita Gokhale, Speaking Tiger Books

• The Woman Who Climbed Trees, Smriti Ravindra, HarperCollins India

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Award for Nonfiction

• Tripping Down the Ganga: A Son’s Exploration of Faith, Siddharth Kapila, Speaking Tiger Books

• Fire on the Ganges: Life Among Dead in Banaras, Radhika Iyengar, HarperCollins India

• How Prime Ministers Decide, Neerja Chowdhury, Aleph Book Company

• Gilded Cage: Years that Made and Unmade Kashmir, Sandeep Bamzai, Rupa Publications

• Bharat Rising: Dharma, Democracy and Diplomacy, Utpal Kumar, BlueOne Ink

• The Day I Became a Runner: A Women’s History of India…

  Read more