Booked for glory as Crossword Awards crown India’s finest storytellers

MUMBAI: Literature took centre stage and stole the spotlight in Mumbai as the 19th Crossword Book Awards unfurled a night stacked with prose, pride and page-turning brilliance. And leading the celebration was a standing ovation for the formidable Shanta Gokhale, who received the coveted Lifetime Achievement Award becoming only the fifth luminary to join a club that counts Ruskin Bond, Sudha Murty, Shashi Tharoor and Amitav Ghosh among its members.

The award was presented by close friend and veteran journalist Bachi Karkaria, who lauded Gokhale’s towering influence across Marathi literature, theatre criticism and translation, calling her a cultural force who has “enriched Indian literature at large.”

The evening, held at The LaLit Mumbai on 3 December 2025, showcased the breadth of Indian storytelling today from a 920-page deep dive into 1940s Calcutta to a probing study of modern Hindu identity. The Jury Awards reflected that sweep, recognising:

● Fiction: Great Eastern Hotel by Ruchir Joshi

● Non-fiction: Gods, Guns and Missionaries by Manu S. Pillai

● Business & Management: Just a Mercenary? by Duvvuri Subbarao

● Children’s Books: The Wall Friends Club by Varsha Seshan, illustrated by Denise Antao

● Translations: The Day the Earth Bloomed by Manoj Kuroor, translated by J. Devika

With 15 jurors across five categories, several including Vaishna Roy, Mandira Nayar, Poonam Saxena, Deepak Dalal, Sonu Bhasin and Sruthijith KK—took the stage to present the awards.

If the Jury Awards spoke to craft, the Popular Choice Awards revealed the nation’s heart. Reader votes crowned titles that sparked conversations across the country, including:

● Fiction: Too Good To Be True by Prajakta Koli

● Non-fiction: Shah Rukh Khan by Mohar Basu

● Children’s Books: Grandpa’s Bag of Stories by Sudha Murty

● Business & Management: Ratan Tata by Thomas Mathew

● Mind, Body & Spirit: Enlightenment by Sadhguru

Celebrating the diverse winners, Crossword Bookstores CEO Aakash Gupta said, “The range and depth recognised this year is truly thrilling. These books will spark conversations, shape perspectives and inspire a generation of readers.”

Adding to the sentiment Crossword Bookstores director Nidhi Gupta shared, “Tonight reminded us of the enduring magic of storytelling. These works open windows into worlds we may never otherwise encounter.”

The ceremony drew a constellation of authors and industry leaders, including shortlisted names Prahalad Kakkar, Roopa Pai, Anand Neelakantan and Arunava Sinha, along with prominent attendees Anupama Chopra, Ambi Parmeswaran and Suvir Saran.

Established in 1998, the Crossword Book Awards continue to stand as one of India’s most consistent literary benchmarks championing English-language writing, elevating new voices and mirroring the evolving pulse of Indian storytelling. With its 2025 edition, the awards once again offered readers a definitive guide to the year’s most compelling books and the writers shaping the country’s literary future.

As the final applause faded, one thing was clear: Indian literature is not just thriving, it’s rewriting its own story, one award-winning page at a time.