WINNERS - 2025
BOOK OF THE YEAR – FICTION
Deviants
by Santanu Bhattacharya
Santanu Bhattacharya’s Deviants moves across generations, following three generations of gay men in one Indian family as they each find themselves fighting, in their own time and in their own way, for love and for dignity. It is a bold and deeply felt novel, one that refuses to look away from the weight of what it means to live and love against the current of one’s times. Bhattacharya grew up in India before studying at the University of Oxford and the National University of Singapore. His debut, One Small Voice, was named an Observer Best Debut Novel of 2023 and shortlisted for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award and the Society of Authors’ Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize. He has since won the Desmond Elliott Prize Residency and the Mo Siewcharran and Life Writing prizes.
BOOK OF THE YEAR - NON FICTION
All Our Loves: Journeys With Polyamory in India
by Arundhati Ghosh
In All Our Loves, Arundhati Ghosh turns her attention to polyamory in India, a subject that demands both sensitivity and courage to explore, and brings to it the depth of someone who has spent three decades thinking seriously about culture, identity, and the way people make their lives. Ghosh is a writer, cultural practitioner, and social activist based in Bangalore, and her years as Executive Director of the India Foundation for the Arts have sharpened her ability to see clearly and write with purpose. She has been recognised with the Global Fundraiser Award from Resource Alliance, Chevening fellowships, and a Salzburg Global Seminar Fellowship, among other honours.
OP - ED OF THE YEAR
Why Trans Women Can't Identify As Women In India
by Katyayini Saksham
Published in Swaddle.com, Katyayini Saksham’s Op-Ed takes on a question that is both urgent and, in many circles, still too rarely asked: why is it that trans women in India remain unable to legally identify as women? Writing with clarity and conviction, Saksham lays bare the structural and legislative barriers that make this so, producing a piece that is rigorous without being cold, and passionate without losing its argument.
FEATURE OF THE YEAR
Love And Loss In Multai
by Naina Bhargava
Published in Queerbeat.org, Naina Bhargava’s Love and Loss in Multai is rooted in a specific place and a particular set of lives, and yet it opens outward into something much larger, a meditation on love, grief, and what it means to belong somewhere and to someone. It is a quietly powerful piece of work.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Late Saleem Kidwai
The 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Late Saleem Kidwai, a medieval historian, translator, and gay rights activist who spent his life recovering the history of same-sex love in India. He taught at the University of Delhi for nearly twenty years and helped establish some of the earliest community support spaces for queer people in Delhi. He passed away in August 2021.
JURY 2025
CHAIR
Poonam Saxena is a journalist, writer, author and translator. She studied in Delhi, and did her BA and MA in History from St Stephen’s College. She went on to do an M. Phil from Delhi University. She has had a distinguished career in journalism. She was with The Hindustan Times, where she launched and edited the HT Sunday magazine, Brunch, for over ten years, before moving on to edit the weekend section. She continues to do a regular column for Hindustan Times which looks at our past through the prism of Hindi literature and Hindi cinema. She has written extensively on popular culture, film, television, books and Hindi literature. She has been on the jury of many awards, including the Crossword Jury for Best Translation.
She translates from Hindi to English and her translations include Dharamvir Bharati’s Gunahon ka Devta (Chander & Sudha, Penguin Viking), Rahi Masoom Raza’s Scene : 75 (HarperCollins), The Greatest Hindi Stories Ever Told (Aleph) and Udayan Vajpeyi’s Qayaas (Love Is Participation in Eternity, Bloomsbury). Most recently, she has translated the memoirs of two leading Hindi writers, Mannu Bhandari’s Ek Kahani Yeh Bhi (This Too Is a Story) and Rajendra Yadav’s Mud Mud Ke Dekhta Hoon (Echoes of My Past). Both have been published by Penguin. She was also the co-author for filmmaker Karan Johar’s memoir, An Unsuitable Boy (Penguin).
Poonam Saxena is a journalist, writer, author and translator. She studied in Delhi, and did her BA and MA in History from St Stephen’s College. She went on to do an M. Phil from Delhi University. She has had a distinguished career in journalism. She was with The Hindustan Times, where she launched and edited the HT Sunday magazine, Brunch, for over ten years, before moving on to edit the weekend section. She continues to do a regular column for Hindustan Times which looks at our past through the prism of Hindi literature and Hindi cinema. She has written extensively on popular culture, film, television, books and Hindi literature. She has been on the jury of many awards, including the Crossword Jury for Best Translation.
She translates from Hindi to English and her translations include Dharamvir Bharati’s Gunahon ka Devta (Chander & Sudha, Penguin Viking), Rahi Masoom Raza’s Scene : 75 (HarperCollins), The Greatest Hindi Stories Ever Told (Aleph) and Udayan Vajpeyi’s Qayaas (Love Is Participation in Eternity, Bloomsbury). Most recently, she has translated the memoirs of two leading Hindi writers, Mannu Bhandari’s Ek Kahani Yeh Bhi (This Too Is a Story) and Rajendra Yadav’s Mud Mud Ke Dekhta Hoon (Echoes of My Past). Both have been published by Penguin. She was also the co-author for filmmaker Karan Johar’s memoir, An Unsuitable Boy (Penguin).
MEMBERS
Anuja Chandramouli is a bestselling author and new age Indian classicist widely regarded as one of the finest writers in mythology, historical fiction and fantasy. She followed up her highly acclaimed debut novel, Arjuna: Saga of a Pandava Warrior-Prince, which was named as one of the top 5 sellers in the Indian writing category for the year 2012 by Amazon India with Kamadeva: The God of Desire, Shakti: The Divine Feminine, Yama’s Lieutenant and its sequel, Yama’s Lieutenant and the Stone Witch. Her articles, short stories and book reviews appear in various publications like The New Indian Express, The Hindu, Scroll.in and Femina. Some of her other books are Kartikeya: The Destroyer’s Son, Prithviraj Chauhan: The Emperor of Hearts, Padmavati: The Burning Queen, Ganga: The Constant Goddess and Muhammad Bin Tughlaq: Tale of a Tyrant. Her book, Mohini: The Enchantress was the winner of the JK Papers and Times of India Popular Choice AutHer award for the year 2021. Her books are also available as audiobooks and have been translated into Hindi. Abhimanyu: Son of Arjuna has been shortlisted for the Atta Galatta – Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize. Her latest books are Girl Talk and The Wife and the Dancing Queen.
An accomplished TEDx speaker and storyteller, Anuja Chandramouli, regularly conducts workshops on creative writing, mythology and empowerment in schools and colleges across the country. Her Mahabharata and Ramayana with Anuja storytelling series is now available on YouTube, Spotify, TuneIn Alexa, Apple Podcasts. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. This mother of two little girls lives in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu.
Anuja Chandramouli is a bestselling author and new age Indian classicist widely regarded as one of the finest writers in mythology, historical fiction and fantasy. She followed up her highly acclaimed debut novel, Arjuna: Saga of a Pandava Warrior-Prince, which was named as one of the top 5 sellers in the Indian writing category for the year 2012 by Amazon India with Kamadeva: The God of Desire, Shakti: The Divine Feminine, Yama’s Lieutenant and its sequel, Yama’s Lieutenant and the Stone Witch. Her articles, short stories and book reviews appear in various publications like The New Indian Express, The Hindu, Scroll.in and Femina. Some of her other books are Kartikeya: The Destroyer’s Son, Prithviraj Chauhan: The Emperor of Hearts, Padmavati: The Burning Queen, Ganga: The Constant Goddess and Muhammad Bin Tughlaq: Tale of a Tyrant. Her book, Mohini: The Enchantress was the winner of the JK Papers and Times of India Popular Choice AutHer award for the year 2021. Her books are also available as audiobooks and have been translated into Hindi. Abhimanyu: Son of Arjuna has been shortlisted for the Atta Galatta – Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize. Her latest books are Girl Talk and The Wife and the Dancing Queen.
An accomplished TEDx speaker and storyteller, Anuja Chandramouli, regularly conducts workshops on creative writing, mythology and empowerment in schools and colleges across the country. Her Mahabharata and Ramayana with Anuja storytelling series is now available on YouTube, Spotify, TuneIn Alexa, Apple Podcasts. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. This mother of two little girls lives in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu.
Chittajit Mitra (he/they) is a queer writer, translator and journalist from Allahabad. They co-founded RAQS (Resistive Alliance for Queer Solidarity) in 2017, a queer collective based in the city which focuses on talking about gender, sexuality and mental health in Hindi. They believe in centering queer conversations in Indian languages and politicizing the queer community to fight majoritarianism, casteism and other ills that ails our society.
Currently they are also the general secretary of People’s Union of Civil Liberties, Uttar Pradesh which is a pan India Human Rights organization. They were also the recipient of the inaugural Rainbow Awards for Literature and Journalism in the Op-Ed category.
Chittajit Mitra (he/they) is a queer writer, translator and journalist from Allahabad. They co-founded RAQS (Resistive Alliance for Queer Solidarity) in 2017, a queer collective based in the city which focuses on talking about gender, sexuality and mental health in Hindi. They believe in centering queer conversations in Indian languages and politicizing the queer community to fight majoritarianism, casteism and other ills that ails our society.
Currently they are also the general secretary of People’s Union of Civil Liberties, Uttar Pradesh which is a pan India Human Rights organization. They were also the recipient of the inaugural Rainbow Awards for Literature and Journalism in the Op-Ed category.
Dhrubo Jyoti is senior editor of news operations at Hindustan Times. They are also closely linked to the movement around caste and sexuality that aims to center Dalit voices in India’s LGBTQIA+ movements.
Dhrubo Jyoti is senior editor of news operations at Hindustan Times. They are also closely linked to the movement around caste and sexuality that aims to center Dalit voices in India’s LGBTQIA+ movements.
Dibeyendu Ganguly is a veteran journalist with 26 years’ experience with The Economic Times in Ahmedabad and Mumbai. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from BITS, Pilani (graduating batch of 1984) and is the recipient of the IE Business School (Madrid) Award for Excellence in Business Journalism.
Dibeyendu has been active in the LGBT movement since the early 90s and has written for pioneering magazines like Bombay Dost and Trikone. He has written on LGBT issues in The Times of India and The Economic Times as well. He is particularly known for his front page article in The Times of India in defense of Pushkin Chandra, who was tragically murdered in Delhi in 2004.
Dibeyendu has been a core member of GayBombay, one of Mumbai’s longest running gay support groups. He has served on the jury of the Humsafar Trust Likho Awards for excellence in LGBT representation in media.
Dibeyendu retired from The Economic Times in 2019 and is currently a consulting editor with Vibes of India, an online news portal published from Ahmedabad.
Dibeyendu Ganguly is a veteran journalist with 26 years’ experience with The Economic Times in Ahmedabad and Mumbai. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from BITS, Pilani (graduating batch of 1984) and is the recipient of the IE Business School (Madrid) Award for Excellence in Business Journalism.
Dibeyendu has been active in the LGBT movement since the early 90s and has written for pioneering magazines like Bombay Dost and Trikone. He has written on LGBT issues in The Times of India and The Economic Times as well. He is particularly known for his front page article in The Times of India in defense of Pushkin Chandra, who was tragically murdered in Delhi in 2004.
Dibeyendu has been a core member of GayBombay, one of Mumbai’s longest running gay support groups. He has served on the jury of the Humsafar Trust Likho Awards for excellence in LGBT representation in media.
Dibeyendu retired from The Economic Times in 2019 and is currently a consulting editor with Vibes of India, an online news portal published from Ahmedabad.
Himanjali has written a few books and edited many more. She was formerly Editorial Director at Simon & Schuster India. Her children’s and YA books include The Stupendous Timetelling Dog and Talking of Muskaan, which were shortlisted for the Crossword Book Award. Mrs C Remembers, her first novel for adults, won her the FICCI Publishing Award for Upcoming Author of the Year in 2018.
Himanjalli is a lover of dogs, oceans and blue nail polish and is secretly proud that her latest novel, The Burnings, has made family and friends worry about what lives inside her head.
Himanjali has written a few books and edited many more. She was formerly Editorial Director at Simon & Schuster India. Her children’s and YA books include The Stupendous Timetelling Dog and Talking of Muskaan, which were shortlisted for the Crossword Book Award. Mrs C Remembers, her first novel for adults, won her the FICCI Publishing Award for Upcoming Author of the Year in 2018.
Himanjalli is a lover of dogs, oceans and blue nail polish and is secretly proud that her latest novel, The Burnings, has made family and friends worry about what lives inside her head.
Nidhi Suresh is an independent reporter with over seven years of experience in reporting on gender-based violence, crime, politics and militarization. In 2019, she graduated cum laude with a Masters in Masters in conflict studies and human rights from Utrecht University, Netherlands. She has written for Newslaundry, Newsminute, Deutsche Welle, France 24, Al Jazeera, Scroll, Caravan and Quint.
Her work was shortlisted for the 2025 global journalism True Story Award in Bern, Switzerland. She is a two-time recipient of the Laadli Media & Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity. Her story on a rape case was a finalist for the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) 2023 award under the category of ‘Excellence in Reporting on Women’s Issue.’ She was also featured in the PBS frontline documentary titled ‘India’s Rape Scandal’, in 2021.
Currently based out of New Delhi, Nidhi Suresh focuses on longform investigative stories around sexual violence at the intersections of caste, religion, sport and politics.
Nidhi Suresh is an independent reporter with over seven years of experience in reporting on gender-based violence, crime, politics and militarization. In 2019, she graduated cum laude with a Masters in Masters in conflict studies and human rights from Utrecht University, Netherlands. She has written for Newslaundry, Newsminute, Deutsche Welle, France 24, Al Jazeera, Scroll, Caravan and Quint.
Her work was shortlisted for the 2025 global journalism True Story Award in Bern, Switzerland. She is a two-time recipient of the Laadli Media & Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity. Her story on a rape case was a finalist for the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) 2023 award under the category of ‘Excellence in Reporting on Women’s Issue.’ She was also featured in the PBS frontline documentary titled ‘India’s Rape Scandal’, in 2021.
Currently based out of New Delhi, Nidhi Suresh focuses on longform investigative stories around sexual violence at the intersections of caste, religion, sport and politics.
K Vaishali is an author based in Hyderabad, India. Her critically acclaimed memoir, Homeless: Growing Up Lesbian and Dyslexic in India (Yoda Press & Simon & Schuster, 2023), won the 2024 Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar for English and made the 2023 Rainbow Awards shortlist. She’s been recognized as a queer role model by egomonk and selected as the Specific Learning Disabilities delegate at the 2024 International Purple Fest organized by the Government of India.
She works as a documentation writer at a tech company and holds a Master’s in Communication from the University of Hyderabad. She was recently featured as a speaker at the Hyderabad Literary Festival, Dehradun Literature Festival, Dibrugarh Literature Festival, Rainbow Literary Festival, and Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival.
K Vaishali is an author based in Hyderabad, India. Her critically acclaimed memoir, Homeless: Growing Up Lesbian and Dyslexic in India (Yoda Press & Simon & Schuster, 2023), won the 2024 Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar for English and made the 2023 Rainbow Awards shortlist. She’s been recognized as a queer role model by egomonk and selected as the Specific Learning Disabilities delegate at the 2024 International Purple Fest organized by the Government of India.
She works as a documentation writer at a tech company and holds a Master’s in Communication from the University of Hyderabad. She was recently featured as a speaker at the Hyderabad Literary Festival, Dehradun Literature Festival, Dibrugarh Literature Festival, Rainbow Literary Festival, and Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival.
Shals Mahajan is a writer, activist, layabout, part feline, somewhat hooman genderqueer fellow who lives in Bombay, but mainly in their head. Their published works include Timmi in Tangles, Timmi and Rizu, and Reva and Prisha. They’ve also co-authored No Outlaws in the Gender Galaxy.
Shals Mahajan is a writer, activist, layabout, part feline, somewhat hooman genderqueer fellow who lives in Bombay, but mainly in their head. Their published works include Timmi in Tangles, Timmi and Rizu, and Reva and Prisha. They’ve also co-authored No Outlaws in the Gender Galaxy.