'Mathrubhumi Book of the Year Award' to be announced during

A longlist of 16 novels are being considered for the 'Mathrubhumi Book of the Year' Award which will be announced during the third edition of the Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters to be held between January 30 and February 2 here.

The list include an eclectic mix of writing and genres in fiction by leading writers in the country, organisers said here on Tuesday.

The novels are: The Far Field (Madhuri Vijay), The City and the Sea (Raj Kamal Jha), Vanara (Anand Neelakantan), Ibs Endless Search for Satisfaction (Roshan Ali);

Milk Teeth (Amrita Mahale), There is gunpowder in the air (Manoranjan Vyapari), In search of heer (Manjul Bajaj), Eating Wasps (Anita Nair), A Secret History of Compassion (Paul Zachariah);

Bhumika: the story of Sita (Aditya Iyengar), Diary of a Malayali Madman (N Prabhakaran), Blue is like Blue (Vinod Kumar Shukla);

Fear of Lions (Amita Kanekar), The Black Dwarves of the Good Little Bay (Varun Thomas Mathew), The scent of God (Saikat Majumdar and The Queen of the Jasmine Country (Sharanya Manivannan).

 

"The short-list of the award entries will be announced ahead of the third edition of Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters, and the winner will be declared and awarded during the festival from Jan 30-Feb 2, 2020 at the Kanakakkunnu Palace, Thiruvananthapuram," the organisers said in a release here.

The award carries a prize money of Rs 5 lakh and a sculpture by a leading artist to honour and celebrate Indian literature.

According to the release, the award is open to Indian writers who are published in India.

It has received an enthusiastic response from the publishing industry across the country.

"The Mathrubhumi Book of the Year award is a commitment from Mathrubhumi to honour the best in Indian literature.

We are inspired to honour and celebrate brilliant works, and encourage publishers to look for the best writing by Indian authors," said M V Shreyams Kumar, Joint Managing Director, Mathrubhumi.