The New India Foundation invites applications for the eleventh edition of the prestigious New India Foundation Book Fellowships, supporting well-researched scholarship that documents various aspects of the dynamic and rich landscape of India post Independence.
With an annual stipend of INR 18 lakhs to each recipient, the New India Foundation Book Fellowships are amongst the most distinguished Fellowships in the country. In addition to the financial stipend, the New India Foundation offers editorial and administrative guidance through the course of Fellowship, from proposal to publication. Open to Indian nationals, including those currently living abroad, these Fellowships are awarded for a period of one year.
From a large pool of applications, about 20-25 proposals are shortlisted to meet with a Jury consisting of eminent people from the worlds of scholarship, business, and social service; about 5 to 10 fellowships are awarded every two years. Our Jury this year includes social scientist and author Niraja Jayal, historian Srinath Raghavan, and entrepreneurs Nandan Nilekani and Manish Sabharwal.
According to Srinath Raghavan, Trustee, New India Foundation: ‘In a very real sense, the New India Foundation believes that India today is such a fascinating yet complex phenomenon that in order to be able to get a grip on where we are—and where we might be going—we need to approach through many windows and vantage points.’
Fellowship-holders shall be expected to write original books in English. Proposals should be oriented towards publication,and outline a road map towards that destination. The Foundation is agnostic as regards genre, theme, and ideology: the only requirement is that the proposed works contribute to a fuller understanding of independent India. Thus, Fellowship holders may choose to write a memoir, or a work of reportage, or a thickly footnoted academic study. Their books could be oriented towards economics, or politics, or culture. They could be highly specific—an account of a single decade or a single region—or wide-ranging, such as a countrywide overview.
Applications open: 9th August 2022
Applications close: 31st December 2022
Since its inception, the NIF Book Fellowships have resulted in the publication of several critically acclaimed and commercially successful books that have recorded various aspects of contemporary Indian history. Books resulting from the New India Foundation Book Fellowships have conveyed original research in an accessible manner to different constituencies. Recently published titles include Swati Ganguly’s Tagore’s University: A History of Visva-Bharati (1921-1961); Nazia Akhtar’s Bibi’s Room: Hyderabadi Women and Twentieth-Century Urdu Prose; Rahul Ramagundam’s The Life and Times of George Fernandes; Pradeep Magazine’s Not Just Cricket: A Reporter's Journey Through Modern India; Rajshree Chandra’s Competing Nationalisms: The Sacred and Political Life of Jagat Narain Lal; G. Kanoto Chophy’s Christianity and Politics in Tribal India: Baptist Missionaries and Naga Nationalism.
Applicants for the New India Fellowships are invited to submit their book proposal along with a writing sample of at least 5000 words each online through the website ( https://nifbookfellowships11.paperform.co/) before December 31st, 2022.
