Atta Galatta-Bangalore Literature Festival | Book Prize - Bangalore Literature Festival 2023
Home / 2023 / Atta Galatta – Bangalore Literature Festival | Book Prize

Atta Galatta – Bangalore Literature Festival | Book Prize

Every year, Atta Galatta has the immense pleasure of being able to felicitate the best and brightest of the Indian writers’ community. In association with the Bangalore Literature Festival, a platform for voices from all over India and the globe, we have been striving to commemorate literary achievements with the Atta Galatta-Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize.

Instituted in 2015, the annual award are presented under 9 categories of Fiction (English), Non-Fiction (English), Popular Choice, Best Cover Design and expanded categories for Children’s Writing in 2022, Best Children’s Picture Book Story, Best Children’s Picture Book Illustrations, Best Children’s Book Fiction and Best Children’s Book Non-Fiction. An annual award is presented for Literary Achievement in Kannada to an author, celebrating their body of work and contribution to the language.

The Atta Galatta – Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize is probably the only major literary prize that considers translations, short-story anthologies and self-published works

Winners take home an original trophy – Thought Beyond Words

Fiction

Shortlist

Everything the Light Touches Janice Pariat Fourth Estate
History's Angel Anjum Hasan Bloomsbury
I Named My Sister Silence Manoj Rupda (translated by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar) Eka
Minor Disturbances at Grand Life Apartments Hema Sukumar Coronet
Quarterlife Devika Rege Fourth Estate
The Secret of More Tejaswini Apte-Rahm Aleph Book Company

Non-Fiction

Shortlist

Caste Pride Manoj Mitta Context
Marginlands Arati Kumar-Rao Picador
Raw Umber : A Memoir Sara Rai Context
The Book Beautiful Pradeep Sebastian Hachette
Vajpayee Abhishek Choudhary Picador
Water In A Broken Pot: A Memoir Yogesh Maitreya Penguin Viking

Popular Choice

Shortlist

To vote visit – agblfprize.in

Independence Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni HarperCollins
Irrfan: A Life in Movies Shubhra Gupta Pan Macmillan
Rocketing Through the Skies G. Madhavan Nair Rupa
Hacking Health Mukesh Bansal Penguin Viking
Dr Cuterus : Everything Nobody Tells You About Your Body Dr Tanaya Narendra Penguin
Failure To Make Round Rotis Mehak Goyal Juggernaut

Children's Fiction

Shortlist

Bipathu and a Very Big Dream Anita Nair Puffin
Dakshin : South Indian Myths and Fables Nitin Kushalappa MP Puffin
Dhara's Revolution Varsha Seshan Puffin
The District Cup Mallika Ravikumar Puffin
The Great Poop War Ranjit Lal Red Panda
Zen Shabnam Minwalla Duckbill

Children's Non-Fiction

Shortlist

Are there Bun Shops in the Jungles of India? Nandini Nayar Hachette India
Ramanujan: From Zero to Infinity Arundhati Venkatesh Duckbill
Taatung Tatung And Other Amazing Stories Vaishali Shroff Puffin
That Big-Voiced Girl Mamta Nainy Puffin
The Bird Man of India: Salim Ali for Children Zai Whitaker Hachette India
Unknown Heroes Of India's Freedom Struggle P. Sainath Tulika Publishers

Children's Picture Book Story

Shortlist

A Thousand Full Moons Shobha Viswanath Karadi Tales
Maari - a gift from the skies Anusha Veluswamy and Shruti Hemani The Little Dipper Publishing
My Grandmother Can't Cook Indu Balachandran and Priya Kuriyan Karadi Tales
Our Library Raviraj Shetty Pratham
Out In The Moonlight Perumal Murugan Tulika Publishers
When We Are Home Priyadarshini Gogoi Pratham

Children's Picture Book Story - Illustrations

Shortlist

Boom Boom Prema Revathi, Illustrated by Anthoni Guruz Tulika
Cat Needs A Friend! Sanid Asif Ali, Illustrated by Vishnu Nair Studio Niyet
Hello, Sun! Written and Illustrated by Rajiv Eipe Pratham
How to Reach Mars and Other (Im)possible Things Menaka Raman, Illustrated by Rajiv Eipe Puffin
The Miracle on Kachhua Beach Nandita da Cunha, Illustrated by Priya Kuriyan Kalpavriksh
Wet Paint Asha Nehemiah, Illustrated by Chetan Sharma Penguin
Where is Mr.Thookam? Anusha Veluswamy, Illustrated by Janan Abir The Little Dipper Publishing
Would You Like To Eat Gol Gol Gappas? Radhika Suri, Illustrated by Upasana Chadha Tota Books

Cover Design

Shortlist

Cherry Red, Cherry Black Kavery Nambisan, Cover Design by Gavin Morris Bloomsbury
From Makaras to Manticores C.G. Salamander, Cover Design by Sheena Deviah Hachette India
Heart Tantrums Aisha Sarwari, Cover Design by Wasim Helal Penguin Vintage
The Hijab G Arunima and P. K. Yasser Arafath, Cover Design by Mridu Agarwal Simon & Schuster
The Sea Elephants Shastri Akella, Cover Design by Ahlawat Gunjan Penguin Viking
We Come From Mist Janice Pariat, Cover Design by Nori Norbhu Zubaan

Trophy - Thought Beyond Words

Thought Beyond Words aims to showcase how creative insights precede their translation into language.

The sculpture depicts the mind as a tree and thoughts as birds. Birds come and go to the branches of the tree. Some fleetingly, some with more persistence. Some birds will take up residence in the tree, build a nest in its branches and giving birth to more thoughts.

The sculpture was designed by Shri. T.S Ramani Sankar, the celebrated architect and executed by Sampath Appasamy of Artistick’s Art Forum.

Past Winners

Fiction

The Immortal King Rao Vauhini Vara 4th Estate

Non-Fiction

Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh : India’s Lonely Young Women and The Search for Intimacy and Independence Shrayana Bhattacharya Harper Collins

Children’s Fiction

Maithili and the Minotaur Web of Woe CJ Salamander, Illustrated by Rajiv Eipe Penguin

Children’s Non-Fiction

Naturalist Ruddy Rohan Chakravarty Penguin

Picture Book - Story

Beauty is Missing Priya Kuriyan Pratham Books

Picture Book - Illustrations

Dugga Written and Illustrated by Rajiv Eipe Pratham Books

Popular Choice

Open Book : Not Quite a Memoir Kubbra Sait Harper Collins

Cover Design

The Muslim Vanishes: A Play Saeed Naqvi, Cover design by Antra K Penguin Vintage

Fiction

Alipura Gyan Chaturvedi (Translated by Salim Yusufji)

Non-Fiction

Born a Muslim: Some Truths About Islam in India Ghazala Wahab

Popular Choice

Unfinished: A Memoir Priyanka Chopra Jonas

Young Adult Book

Saira Zariwala is Afraid Shabnam Minwalla

Children’s Picture Book

The Girl Who Loved to Sing: Teejan Bai Lavanya Karthik

Cover Design

Shadow Craft: Visual Aesthetics of Black and White Hindi Cinema Kapil Gupta

Achievement in Kannada Literature

Girish Rao Hatwar

Fiction

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line Deepa Anappara Penguin Hamish Hamilton

Non Fiction

The Death Script: Dreams and Delusions in Naxal Country Ashutosh Bhardwaj 4th Estate - HarperCollins

Popular Choice

Made in India: A Memoir Milind Soman with Roopa Pai Penguin eBury

Literary Achievement in Kannada

Vaidehi

Best Cover Design

Rising Heat Cover Design by Ahlawat Gunjan Penguin Hamish Hamilton

Fiction

Blue Is Like Blue Vinod Kumar Shukla (Translated by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and Sara Rai) HarperCollins India

Non–Fiction

Early Indians: The Story of Our Ancestors and Where We Came From Tony Joseph Juggernaut

Popular Choice

Life's Amazing Secrets: How to Find Balance and Purpose in Your Life Gaur Gopal Das Penguin Ananda

Literary Achievement in Kannada

Dr. H.S. Venkatesha Murthy

Fiction

No Presents Please Jayant Kaikini (Translated by Tejaswini Niranjana) Harper Collins

Fiction

When I Hid my Caste Baburao Bagul (Translated by Jerry Pinto) Speaking Tiger

Non-Fiction

Adi Shankaracharya, Hinduism’s Greatest Thinker Pavan K Varma Tranquebar

Popular Choice

Keepers of The Kalachakra Ashwin Sanghi Westland

Literary Achievement in Kannada

Jayant Kaikini

Fiction

The Small Town Sea Anees Salim Penguin Random House

Non-Fiction

Lone Fox Dancing - My Autobiography Ruskin Bond Speaking Tiger

Popular Choice

The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad Twinkle Khanna Juggernaut

Literary Achievement in Kannada

Bolwar Mahammad Kunhi

Fiction

Pyre Perumal Murugan Penguin Random House

Non-Fiction

Half-Lion Vinay Sitapati Penguin Random House

Literary Achievement in Kannada

K.V Tirumalesh

Fiction

The Way Things Were Aatish Taseer Picador

Non-Fiction

Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India Akshaya Mukul Harper Collins India

Literary Achievement in Kannada

Prathibha Nandakumar

Follow Us