Dehradun: Valley of Words|Shabdavali announced the winners of all eight categories of its Book Awards—celebrating the best of English Literature and Hindi Sahitya. The VoW Book Awards 2023 is currently in its seventh edition as the most comprehensive independent literary award programme in India.
Over 600 nominations were received in 2023 from 70 publishing houses across the country. The selection of the books involved a three-stage process, and is indeed a tough call as the quality of submissions have become more competitive each year. The critically-acclaimed longlist of ten books per category was brought down to a final five in the shortlist. The final winners were selected through an ongoing process which began in August this year, with the VoW secretariate and the esteemed Jury working in tandem, for each of the eight categories.
Commenting on the Book Awards, Festival Director Dr Sanjeev Chopra stated, ‘The VoW book Awards are an iconic offering in the sense that each of the selected books tells a story .. of identity, of imagination , of aspiration , of times that have gone by, of issues that are contemporary, and of the future as well , including the world of Chat GPT.’
The VoW Book Award Winners for 2023 are…
ENGLISH FICTION No Way In by Udayan Mukherjee (Bloomsbury )
ENGLISH NON-FICTION: The Journey of Hindi Language Journalism in India by Mrinal Pande (OrientBlack Swan)
HINDI FICTION: Shahar Se Das Kilometer by Neelesh Raghuwanshi (Rajkamal Publications)
HINDI NON- FICTION: Dinank kay Bina by Ushakiran Khan (Vani Publications)
WRITINGS FOR YOUNG ADULTS: Children of the Hidden Land by Mandira Shah (Speaking Tiger)
WRITINGS/PICTURE BOOKS FOR CHILDREN: Jhupli’s Honey Box by Achintyarup Ray (Tulika Publishers)
TRANSLATION INTO HINDI: Bhaaga Hua Ladka Translated by Amrita Bera (Westland)
TRANSLATION INTO ENGLISH: The Bride : The Maithili Classic Kanyadan Translated by Lalit Kumar (HarperCollins)
The Valley of Words community extended warm congratulations to all the winners and look forward to a grand finale of its 7th Edition of Valley of Words|Shabdavali, on the 16th and 17th of December 2023, Dehradun.
