Crossword Book Awards 2024 winners announced

The winning authors received a cash prize of Rs 50,000 each. Author Amitav Ghosh was given the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Each category was judged by a separate jury. The jury for fiction comprised Manjula Narayan, Prayaag Akbar, and Somak Ghoshal. The nonfiction jury consisted of TCA Raghavan, Anuradha Sengupta, and Kaveree Bamzai. Translations were judged by Arshia Sattar, Nandini Nair, and Malashri Lal. The judges for Children’s Books were Paro Anand, Parvati Sharma, and Bulbul Sharma. Khozem Merchant, Shaili Chopra, and R Sriram made up the jury for Business and Management. The Popular Choice winners were determined by votes on the Crossword website.

The event brought together a diverse array of key figures from the Indian literary world, including Twinkle Khanna, Ankur Warikoo, Kanan Gill, Sanjeev Sanyal, and Gaur Gopal Das, alongside celebrated guest speaker Prahlad Kakkar and presenters like Bachi Karkaria, Anupama Chopra, and Cyrus Broacha. 

Honours were bestowed across six categories — fiction, non-fiction, children's books, business and management, mind, body & spirit, and translations. 

Aakash Gupta, CEO of Crossword Book Stores, said, “At Crossword, we believe in the transformative power of books to inspire, connect, and change the world. The Awards celebrate not just incredible authors and their stories, but the entire ecosystem that brings books to life. Together, we champion Indian writing and strive to nurture a culture of reading for generations to come.”

Nidhi Gupta, director of Crossword Bookstores, added, “The awards are a remarkable celebration of talent, creativity, and literary achievement. Crossword Book Awards is not merely an event; it is a storied legacy—a tribute to literary brilliance that celebrates the finest works spanning diverse genres.”

The Winners of the Crossword Book Awards 2024:

Fiction:

Jury Award: Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari for Chronicle of an Hour and a Half published by Westland Books

Popular Choice Award: Twinkle Khanna for Welcome to Paradise published by Juggernaut Books

Non-Fiction:

Jury Award: Zeyad Masroor Khan for City on Fire published by HarperCollins Publishers India

Popular Choice Award: Lt Gen. K.J.S. 'Tiny' Dhillon (Retd) for Kitne Ghazi Aaye Kitne Ghazi Gaye published by Penguin Random House India

Children's Books (join winners):

Jury Award: Andaleeb Wajid for The Henna Start-up published by Penguin Random House India

Jury Award: Shabnam Minwalla for Zen published by Penguin Random House India

Popular Choice Award: Ruskin Bond, Illustrated by David Yambem for All-time Favourite Nature Stories published by Penguin Random House India

Business & Management:

Jury Award: Karthik Muralidharan for Accelerating India’s Development published by Penguin Random House India

Popular Choice Award: Radhakrishnan Pillai for Chanakya’s 100 Best Sutras published by Jaico Publishing House

Translations:

Jury Award: Sandhya Mary, translated by Jayasree Kalathil for Maria, Just Maria published by HarperCollins Publishers India

Popular Choice Award: Charu Nivedita, Translated by Nandini Krishnan for Conversations with Aurangzeb published by HarperCollins Publishers India

Mind Body & Spirit 

Popular Choice Awards: Gaur Gopal Das for Energize Your Mind published by Penguin Random House India

Crossword Bestseller 2024: Ankur Warikoo for Make Epic Money published by Penguin Random House India

Lifetime Achievement Award: Amitav Ghosh