SUSHILA DEVI AWARD for the BEST BOOK of FICTION written by a WOMAN AUTHOR

The Ratanlal Foundation and the organizing Committee of the Bhopal Literature & Art Festival are happy to announce the Sushila Devi Award for the Best Book of Fiction Written by a Woman author published in 2021. This prize has been instituted by the Shri Ratanlal Foundation. 
The jury for the Sushila Devi Book Award 2022 decided that the award be given to Anuradha Roy for her novel, The Earthspinner (Hachette India, 2021).

The Jury chose The Earthspinner with the following Citation:

Impressive in its range, Anuradha Roy’s sophisticated novel The Earthspinner glides effortlessly over mythology, history, caste politics and everyday realism. A potter imagines shaping a terracotta horse that breathes the elements of fire and water but he also has to contend with the travails of a forbidden relationship. Roy’s lyricism rises above the mundane to ask larger questions about the meaning of human existence. Breaking past several genres of writing, the author’s inspired language has malleability as well as firmness, aesthetic form as well as an endearing fragility. With superb imagination and impeccable craft, Anuradha Roy achieves a beautiful balance in a novel that explores the mystique of creation.

The Jury was chaired by Prof. Malashri Lal and comprised of Prof. Sukrita Paul Kumar and Prof. GJV Prasad. Now in its fifth year, the Sushila Devi award has gained a prestigious position in the literary sphere. Previous winners have been  Namita Gokhale (Things To Leave Behind),  Shubhangi Swarup (Latitudes of Longing) and Avni Doshi (Girl in White Cotton), Anukrti Upadhyay (Kintsugi).

The Long List of Shortlisted Books:

The Illuminated, Anindita Ghose
A Death in Shonagachhi, Rajula Das
The Hottest Summer in Years, Anuradha Kumar
The Earthspinner, Anuradha Roy
The Blind Matriarch, Namita Gokhale
The City of Good Death, Priyanka Champaneri
Kololo Hill, Neema Shah
Machinehood, S.B. Divya
Song of Draupadi, Ira Mukhoty                       
Kunti, Koral Dasgupta                  
The Last Queen, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Shortlist comprised of: The Earthspinner by Anuradha Roy and A Death in Shonagachhi by Rajula Das