Newly Recharged
The shortlist for Crossword’s annual book prize—renamed as Vodaphone Crossword Book Award—is out, and surprisingly, all the usual suspects have been left out, including Booker-shortlisted Animal’s People by Indra Sinha, Booker nominee Nikita Lalwani’s Gifted and Raj Kamal Jha’s Fireproof. Instead, we have two historical novels by uncelebrated authors—A Girl and a River by Usha K.R. and The City of Love by Rimi Chatterjee; two debut novels—Lunatic in My Head by Anjum Hasan and Home Products by Amitava Kumar competing with M.G. Vassanji’s The Assassin’s Song and Tabish Khair’s Filming: A Love Story.
Competing Truths
But it’s the clash of the giants in the non-fiction category with three big books in the running: William Dalrymple’s The Last Mughal, Ramachandra Guha’s India After Gandhi and Rajmohan Gandhi’s Mohandas. Last year’s surprise bestseller The Music Room by Namita Devidayal has also made the cut, with the only real surprise being journalist Robin David’s memoir, City of Fear. Bestselling Bengali author Shankar’s Chowringhee is among the six finalists in the translation category. Others include Star Crossed by Ashokamitran, Naalukettu: The House Around the Courtyard by M.T. Vasudevan Nair, Govardhan’s Travels by Anand Sachidanandan, Alma Kabutari by Maitreyi Pushpa and The Ghosts of Arasur by Era Murukan.
Prised Wide Open
Continuing the trend of reader-friendly literary prizes, there’s going to be a special prize this year for the most popular title in the shortlist of 17. The sms readers’ poll will decide the winner of a Rs 1 lakh cash prize.
