Following the selection of the Longlists for five prestigious literary awards conferred by Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest (November 14 -17), the final shortlist for each award was announced today.

The winners will be announced at the grand Awards Ceremony to be held on November 17 at the NCPA, Nariman Point. The Awards are intended to recognise and encourage literary talent across genres, for both established and new writers.

Tata Literature Live! Book of the Year (Fiction) Shortlist (in alphabetical order)

1. Small Days and Nights by Tishani Doshi (Bloomsbury)
2. The Assassination of Indira Gandhi: The Collected Stories of Upamanyu Chatterjee Vol. I (Speaking Tiger)
3. The City and the Sea by Raj Kamal Jha (Penguin Random House)
4. The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali by Uzma Aslam Khan (Westland)

(This shortlist has four nominations as there was a tie between two books)

Tata Literature Live! Book of the Year (Non-Fiction) Shortlist (in alphabetical order)

1. Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From by Tony Joseph (Juggernaut)
2. Gandhi: The Years That Changed the World by Ramachandra Guha (Penguin Random House)
3. The Transformative Constitution: A Radical Biography in Nine Acts by Gautam Bhatia (HarperCollins)

Tata Literature Live! First Book (Fiction) Shortlist (in alphabetical order)

1. The Black Dwarves of the Good Little Bay by Varun Thomas Matthew (Hachette)
2. The Body Myth by Rheea Mukherjee (Penguin Random House)
3. The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay (HarperCollins)

Tata Literature Live! First Book (Non- Fiction) Shortlist (in alphabetical order)

1. A Stranger Truth: Lessons in Love, Leadership and Courage from India’s Sex Workers by Ashok Alexander (Juggernaut)
2. Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome by Venki Ramakrishnan (HarperCollins)
3. No Nation for Women: Reportage on Rape from India, the World’s Largest Democracy by Priyanka Dubey (Simon & Schuster)

Tata Literature Live! Business Book of the Year Shortlist (in alphabetical order)

1. Leapfrogging to Pole-vaulting: Creating the Magic of Radical and Sustainable Transformation by Raghunath Mashelkar and Ravi Pandit (Penguin Random House)
2. Of Counsel: The Challenges of the Modi-Jaitley Economy by Arvind Subramanian (Penguin Random House)
3.  The Jobs Crisis in India by Raghavan Jagannathan (Pan Macmillan)

Juries for the awards

The awards are decided by three eminent juries. The juries for 2019 were as follows:

Fiction

➢ Arshia Sattar, author who writes about books and literature for publications in India and abroad

➢ Deepanjana Pal, author and journalist

➢ Jerry Pinto, author of Em and the Big Hoom and Murder in Mahim

➢ Peter Griffin, writer, poet, amateur artist and journalist with The Hindu

➢ Shashi Baliga, journalist, media educator and Executive Director, Literature Live!

Non-Fiction

➢ Sanjay Sipahamalani, writer, critic and communications consultant

➢ Santosh Desai, columnist and author of Mother Pious Lady: Making Sense of Everyday India.

➢ Shinie Anthony, writer, editor, and Director, Bangalore Literature Festival 

➢ Sunil Sethi, columnist and former host of the literary TV show, Just Books 

➢ Anil Dharker, author, columnist and Founder-Director, Literature Live!

Business

➢ Ajit Ranade, economist and political analyst

➢ Ambi Parameswaran, advertising/branding veteran, brand coach, columnist and author of nine best-selling books

➢ Arun Maira, author and thought-leader in large systems change in public policy and business

➢ Jerry Rao, author, newspaper and magazine columnist 

➢ Kiran Khalap, award-winning writer, novelist and brand consultant to over 250 organisations including Aadhar