Into its second year, the purpose of the awards remain the same, to recognise work done by queer and cis-het writers who are creating and building narratives around LGBTQIA+ lives. It is about building a genre and encouraging more people to come forth to write, as much as it is about telling the publishing and media world that this ‘genre’ and ‘our’ lives deserve attention, that every story makes a difference to social constructs and perceptions, that each of these narratives add to the community’s sense of belonging. It is therefore, also about representation, reflections of the self, identity and reference points.
The awards, as part of its objectives, aims to identify and reward exemplary affirmative work that brings to life authenticity, realities, stories of love, trials, tribulations, vulnerabilities and strength. It is about recording such stories and that of history being made or retold and revisited through this process.
Every year a jury would read and access the variety of entries from publishers, authors, journalists, freelance writers and editors. The endeavour will be to ensure fairness and studied assessments. The selection of eligible entries will be taken solely and only by the jury. Their decision is and will be final and binding.
ENTRIES FOR THE 2024 AWARDS NOW STAND CLOSED
The Awards Ceremony:
Rainbow Lit Fest – Queer & Inclusive,
Gulmohar Park Club, Delhi (December, 2024).
1. Fiction: This includes novels, graphic novels and collections of short stories (by a single author).
2. Non-Fiction: This includes memoirs, biographies, history and anything that doesn’t fall under Fiction, which means poetry too.
(All submissions are to be in the English language. Translations will also be accepted as long as the original content was written in an Indian language)
1. Feature: The write up must be a minimum of 1200 words
2. Op-Ed: The word length should be be a minimum of 600 words
Parmesh Shahani is an author and an activist for LGBTQ inclusion in corporate India who has guided many of the country’s leading companies on their inclusion journeys. Most recently, he served as Vice President at Godrej Industries and founded and ran the award-winning Godrej India Culture Lab for a decade, between 2011 and 2021. His first book Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love and (Be)Longing in Contemporary India (Sage Publications) was released in 2008 and his second book Queeristan: LGBTQ Inclusion in the Indian Workplace (Westland Business) was released in August 2020 and won the CK Prahalad Award for Best Business Book of 2021 and well as the Laadli Award for Gender Sensitivity in 2021. Parmesh holds an MS in Comparative Media Studies from MIT. He is a TED Senior Fellow, a Yale World Fellow, and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and also a board member of KHOJ International Artists’ Association, and Breakthrough.
Parmesh Shahani is an author and an activist for LGBTQ inclusion in corporate India who has guided many of the country’s leading companies on their inclusion journeys. Most recently, he served as Vice President at Godrej Industries and founded and ran the award-winning Godrej India Culture Lab for a decade, between 2011 and 2021. His first book Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love and (Be)Longing in Contemporary India (Sage Publications) was released in 2008 and his second book Queeristan: LGBTQ Inclusion in the Indian Workplace (Westland Business) was released in August 2020 and won the CK Prahalad Award for Best Business Book of 2021 and well as the Laadli Award for Gender Sensitivity in 2021. Parmesh holds an MS in Comparative Media Studies from MIT. He is a TED Senior Fellow, a Yale World Fellow, and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and also a board member of KHOJ International Artists’ Association, and Breakthrough.
Parmesh Shahani is an author and an activist for LGBTQ inclusion in corporate India who has guided many of the country’s leading companies on their inclusion journeys. Most recently, he served as Vice President at Godrej Industries and founded and ran the award-winning Godrej India Culture Lab for a decade, between 2011 and 2021. His first book Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love and (Be)Longing in Contemporary India (Sage Publications) was released in 2008 and his second book Queeristan: LGBTQ Inclusion in the Indian Workplace (Westland Business) was released in August 2020 and won the CK Prahalad Award for Best Business Book of 2021 and well as the Laadli Award for Gender Sensitivity in 2021. Parmesh holds an MS in Comparative Media Studies from MIT. He is a TED Senior Fellow, a Yale World Fellow, and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and also a board member of KHOJ International Artists’ Association, and Breakthrough.
Parvati Sharma has written across genres. Her most recent books are two historical biographies: Jahangir: An Intimate Portrait of a Great Mughal and Akbar of Hindustan. Her debut was a book of fiction, The Dead Camel and Other Stories of Love. She has also written a novella, Close to Home, and two books for children, The Story of Babur and Rattu & Poorie’s Adventures in History: 1857. Sharma lives in New Delhi, where she has studied English literature and Indian history, and worked as a travel writer, editor and journalist.
Parvati Sharma has written across genres. Her most recent books are two historical biographies: Jahangir: An Intimate Portrait of a Great Mughal and Akbar of Hindustan. Her debut was a book of fiction, The Dead Camel and Other Stories of Love. She has also written a novella, Close to Home, and two books for children, The Story of Babur and Rattu & Poorie’s Adventures in History: 1857. Sharma lives in New Delhi, where she has studied English literature and Indian history, and worked as a travel writer, editor and journalist.
Poonam Saxena is a journalist, writer and translator. She worked with The Hindustan Times for several years. She launched and edited the HT Sunday magazine, Brunch, for twelve years, before moving on to edit the weekend section. She has written extensively on popular culture, film, television and books. She continues to do a regular column for Hindustan Times, The Way We Were, which looks at our past through Hindi literature and cinema. She translates from Hindi to English and has translated Dharmvir Bharati’s Gunahon ka Devta (Chander & Sudha, Penguin Viking), Rahi Masoom Raza’s Scene : 75 (HarperCollins) and also The Greatest Hindi Stories Ever Told (Aleph). She was the co-author for filmmaker Karan Johar’s memoir, An Unsuitable Boy (Penguin).
Poonam Saxena is a journalist, writer and translator. She worked with The Hindustan Times for several years. She launched and edited the HT Sunday magazine, Brunch, for twelve years, before moving on to edit the weekend section. She has written extensively on popular culture, film, television and books. She continues to do a regular column for Hindustan Times, The Way We Were, which looks at our past through Hindi literature and cinema. She translates from Hindi to English and has translated Dharmvir Bharati’s Gunahon ka Devta (Chander & Sudha, Penguin Viking), Rahi Masoom Raza’s Scene : 75 (HarperCollins) and also The Greatest Hindi Stories Ever Told (Aleph). She was the co-author for filmmaker Karan Johar’s memoir, An Unsuitable Boy (Penguin).
Niladri R. Chatterjee is Professor, Department of English, University of Kalyani, West Bengal. His doctoral work was on the novelist Christopher Isherwood. A recipient of Fulbright Scholarship (for which he went to University of Texas at Austin) and the British Counci l- Charles Wallace Fellowship (University of Cambridge), Prof. Chatterjee has co-edited The Muffled Heart: Stories of the Disempowered Male (New Delhi: Rupa and Co., 2005), contributed to The American Isherwood (University of Minnesota Press, 2015), www.glbtq.com (2007), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: OUP, 2004), The Isherwood Century (Wisconsin: Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 2001), and Reader’s Companion to Twentieth Century Writers (London: 4th Estate and Helicon, 1995). He has published in the journal American Notes and Queries (Taylor and Francis) and Intersections (www.intersections.anu.edu.au) and has reviewed for Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide (US). He was also a member of the editorial board of the afore-mentioned ANQ. In March 2011 he served as Visiting Faculty at the Dept. of English, University of North Bengal. He has been teaching a course in gender studies at his university since 2009, and runs a facebook group called New Gender Studies, which has over 14,000 members.
Prof. Chatterjee has recently begun contributing to The Wire. With Tutun Mukherjee, he co-edited Naribhav: Androgyny and Female Impersonation in India (Niyogi Books, Delhi. 2016). He has translated the fiction ofb Krishnagopal Mallick entitled Entering the Maze: Queer Fiction of Krishnagopal Mallick (2023) and is a recipient of Rainbow Award for Literature & Journalism 2023.
Niladri R. Chatterjee is Professor, Department of English, University of Kalyani, West Bengal. His doctoral work was on the novelist Christopher Isherwood. A recipient of Fulbright Scholarship (for which he went to University of Texas at Austin) and the British Counci l- Charles Wallace Fellowship (University of Cambridge), Prof. Chatterjee has co-edited The Muffled Heart: Stories of the Disempowered Male (New Delhi: Rupa and Co., 2005), contributed to The American Isherwood (University of Minnesota Press, 2015), www.glbtq.com (2007), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: OUP, 2004), The Isherwood Century (Wisconsin: Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 2001), and Reader’s Companion to Twentieth Century Writers (London: 4th Estate and Helicon, 1995). He has published in the journal American Notes and Queries (Taylor and Francis) and Intersections (www.intersections.anu.edu.au) and has reviewed for Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide (US). He was also a member of the editorial board of the afore-mentioned ANQ. In March 2011 he served as Visiting Faculty at the Dept. of English, University of North Bengal. He has been teaching a course in gender studies at his university since 2009, and runs a facebook group called New Gender Studies, which has over 14,000 members.
Prof. Chatterjee has recently begun contributing to The Wire. With Tutun Mukherjee, he co-edited Naribhav: Androgyny and Female Impersonation in India (Niyogi Books, Delhi. 2016). He has translated the fiction ofb Krishnagopal Mallick entitled Entering the Maze: Queer Fiction of Krishnagopal Mallick (2023) and is a recipient of Rainbow Award for Literature & Journalism 2023.
Dhamini Ratnam is a journalist and editor with the Hindustan Times. She won the SOPA for Human Rights reporting in 2015 and was a fellow at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in 2017. She hosted a podcast, Gender Question, which is now a column at HT Premium.
Dhamini Ratnam is a journalist and editor with the Hindustan Times. She won the SOPA for Human Rights reporting in 2015 and was a fellow at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in 2017. She hosted a podcast, Gender Question, which is now a column at HT Premium.
Ashlin Mathew is a multi-lingual journalist, who has been writing and covering women issues, gender, health, education, governance and politics for close to 15 years. She joined National Herald in 2017 and is currently their News Editor. She prefers fiction over non-fiction, but work compels her to read more of teh latter. She tweets at https://twitter.com/ashlinpmathew
Ashlin Mathew is a multi-lingual journalist, who has been writing and covering women issues, gender, health, education, governance and politics for close to 15 years. She joined National Herald in 2017 and is currently their News Editor. She prefers fiction over non-fiction, but work compels her to read more of teh latter. She tweets at https://twitter.com/ashlinpmathew
Aroh Akunth is the founder of Dalit Queer Project which aims to create greater awareness around intersectionality, as well as Dalit Art Archive which draws attention to the histories of art from the perspective of Dalit communities. They are based between Delhi and Germany.
Aroh Akunth is the founder of Dalit Queer Project which aims to create greater awareness around intersectionality, as well as Dalit Art Archive which draws attention to the histories of art from the perspective of Dalit communities. They are based between Delhi and Germany.
Sindhu Rajasekaran is an author, filmmaker & academic. Her debut novel Kaleidoscopic Reflections was nominated for the Crossword Book Award, while her latest book of nonfiction is the best-selling Smashing the Patriarchy – A Guide for the 21st century Indian Woman. Sindhu’s fiction, poetry & essays have been published internationally by literary magazines, leading platforms, and academic journals. She has produced an award-winning Indo-British feature film, Ramanujan, and has written for the screen. Worked for years as a communications consultant. Done a bunch of disparate things. Sindhu recently created The Subjective Space website – of which she is the Curatrix.
She’s currently completing her PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Strathclyde, where she’s a recipient of the Dean’s Global Research Award. She’s exploring queer South Asian pasts, creative epistemologies & queer decolonial storytelling.
Sindhu Rajasekaran is an author, filmmaker & academic. Her debut novel Kaleidoscopic Reflections was nominated for the Crossword Book Award, while her latest book of nonfiction is the best-selling Smashing the Patriarchy – A Guide for the 21st century Indian Woman. Sindhu’s fiction, poetry & essays have been published internationally by literary magazines, leading platforms, and academic journals. She has produced an award-winning Indo-British feature film, Ramanujan, and has written for the screen. Worked for years as a communications consultant. Done a bunch of disparate things. Sindhu recently created The Subjective Space website – of which she is the Curatrix.
She’s currently completing her PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Strathclyde, where she’s a recipient of the Dean’s Global Research Award. She’s exploring queer South Asian pasts, creative epistemologies & queer decolonial storytelling.
They are an independent journalist and an assistant professor at the Centre for Writing and Pedagogy, Krea University. Their research and writing is at the intersections of science, gender, sexuality, health, and caste, and has been supported by grants from the Transforming Education for Sustainable Futures initiative, the National Association for Science Writers, ReFrame Institute of Art and Expression, the DBT-Wellcome Trust India Alliance, and The Thakur Foundation. They have bylines in several national and international journalistic platforms, including The Hindu, LGBTQ Nation (where they wrote a column on international affairs), FiftyTwo.in, The Wire (where they wrote a column on science and gender), and The News Minute (where they write a newsletter with several other authors).
In 2023, they were awarded the Laadli Media & Advertising Award for their report on gendered hostels in Indian science institutions. The same year, they were recognised as one of the twenty trailblazing queer and trans individuals in India by Egomonk. Their children’s book, The Plant Whisperer, was mentioned in the Parag Honour List 2023, and was shortlisted for the Green Literature Festival’s 2023 Honour List.
They are an independent journalist and an assistant professor at the Centre for Writing and Pedagogy, Krea University. Their research and writing is at the intersections of science, gender, sexuality, health, and caste, and has been supported by grants from the Transforming Education for Sustainable Futures initiative, the National Association for Science Writers, ReFrame Institute of Art and Expression, the DBT-Wellcome Trust India Alliance, and The Thakur Foundation. They have bylines in several national and international journalistic platforms, including The Hindu, LGBTQ Nation (where they wrote a column on international affairs), FiftyTwo.in, The Wire (where they wrote a column on science and gender), and The News Minute (where they write a newsletter with several other authors).
In 2023, they were awarded the Laadli Media & Advertising Award for their report on gendered hostels in Indian science institutions. The same year, they were recognised as one of the twenty trailblazing queer and trans individuals in India by Egomonk. Their children’s book, The Plant Whisperer, was mentioned in the Parag Honour List 2023, and was shortlisted for the Green Literature Festival’s 2023 Honour List.
Rohin Bhatt (he/they) is a non-binary queer rights activist, lawyer and bioethicist. He currently works with Senior Advocates Indira Jaising and Anand Grover. He graduated from Gujarat National Law University in 2021 with a B.Sc. LL.B. (Hons.) and with a Master of Bioethics at Harvard Medical School in 2022. He is a co-founder of the Indian Bioethics Project at Gujarat National Law University which aims to bring Indian voices to the intersections of law, medicine and bioethics.
Apart from being a regular contributor to The Leaflet where he writes on issues of queer rights, reproductive justice and constitutional law, his work both public platforms such as the Hindu, The Indian Express, India Forum, The Probe, and the Wire Science and academic journals like The Law School Policy Review, The Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, Voices in Bioethics, and the Hastings Center Report. His work focuses on constitutional law, and bioethics, with a particular focus on feminist and queer approaches to bioethics to make healthcare policies and laws more accessible for queer persons, and the effects fascism has on human rights and their intersections.
Rohin Bhatt (he/they) is a non-binary queer rights activist, lawyer and bioethicist. He currently works with Senior Advocates Indira Jaising and Anand Grover. He graduated from Gujarat National Law University in 2021 with a B.Sc. LL.B. (Hons.) and with a Master of Bioethics at Harvard Medical School in 2022. He is a co-founder of the Indian Bioethics Project at Gujarat National Law University which aims to bring Indian voices to the intersections of law, medicine and bioethics.
Apart from being a regular contributor to The Leaflet where he writes on issues of queer rights, reproductive justice and constitutional law, his work both public platforms such as the Hindu, The Indian Express, India Forum, The Probe, and the Wire Science and academic journals like The Law School Policy Review, The Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, Voices in Bioethics, and the Hastings Center Report. His work focuses on constitutional law, and bioethics, with a particular focus on feminist and queer approaches to bioethics to make healthcare policies and laws more accessible for queer persons, and the effects fascism has on human rights and their intersections.
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