Valley of Words (VoW), a not-for-profit organisation devoted to celebrating and honouring exceptional Indian writing and authors, announced the Shortlist for the VoW Book Awards 2025. The awards, across eight categories, will be presented at the 9th edition of the Valley of Words Literature and Arts Festival to be held in Dehradun on October 25 and 26, 2025.
Announcing the nominees, Festival Director Dr Sanjeev Chopra said, “This year, we received over 500 entries from 50 publishers for the VoW Book Awards, demonstrating the diversity and depth of the literary scene in India. Since 2025 also marks the 25th year of the state of Uttarakhand’s formation, the shortlist this year is particularly inclusive of stories from the hills.”
For each category, the final shortlist of five books was narrowed down from a Longlist of 10 titles. The 40 nominees for the eight categories of the VoW Book Awards 2025 are:
English Non-Fiction: ‘Ananda: An Exploration of Cannabis’ in India by Karan Madhok (‘Aleph’), ‘Engineering a Nation: The Life and Career of M. Visvesvaraya’ by Aparajith Ramnath (‘Penguin’), ‘Iconic Trees of India: 75 Natural Wonders’ by S. Natesh (‘Roli Books’), ‘Rukhmabai: The Life and Times of a Child Bride Turned Rebel-Doctor’ by Sudhir Chandra (‘Pan Macmillan’) and ‘This Land We Call Home: The Story of a Family, Caste, Conversions & Modern India’ by Nusrat Jafri (‘Penguin’).
English Fiction: ‘Border Crossers’ by Bhaskar Roy (‘Hachette’), ‘Hill Songs of Love and Longing’ by Bijoya Sawian (‘White Falcon’), ‘Island’ by Sujit Saraf (‘Speaking Tiger’), ‘Never Never Land’ by Namita Gokhale (‘Speaking Tiger’) and ‘Swallowing the Sun’ by Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri (‘Aleph’).
English Translation: ‘Dalit Kitchens Of Marathwada’ translated from Shahu Patole’s Marathi original by Bhushan Kargaonkar (‘HarperCollins’), ‘Lavanyadevi’ translated from Kusum Khemani’s Hindi original by Banibrata Mahanta (‘Orient BlackSwan’), ‘Ten Days Of The Strike’ translated from Sandipan Chattopadhyay’s Bangla original by Arunava Sinha (‘HarperCollins’), ‘The Temple Of No Gods’ translated from Manav Kaul’s Hindi original by Sayari Debnath (‘Penguin’) and ‘White Blood’ translated from Nanak Singh’s Punjabi original by Dilraj Singh Suri (‘Hachette’).
Hindi Non-Fiction: ‘Hampi: Uttkarsh Se Upkarsh Tak’ by Taapsa Chakraborty (‘Winsar Publications’), ‘Himalaya ka Itihas’ by Dr Madan Chandra Bhatt (‘Radhakrishna’), ‘Bidaay De Maa’ by Sudhir Vidyarthi (‘Rajpal Publications’), ‘Pathik Main Aravali Ka’ by Bhanwar Meghwanshi (‘Rajpal Publications’) and ‘Khaki Mein Sthitapragya: Ek IPS Adhikari ki Smiritiyan avam Anubhav’ by Anil Raturi (‘Winsar Publications’).
Hindi Fiction: ‘Atar: Duniya Mein Kya Haasil’ by Pratyaksha (‘Rajkamal Publications’), ‘Kaandhon Par Ghar’ by Pragya (‘Lokbharti’), ‘Zoya Desai Cottage’ by Pankaj Subeer (‘Shivna Publications’), ‘Vaanya’ by Manisha Kulshreshtha (‘Rajkamal Prakashan’) and ‘Suno Kabir’ by Soni Pandey (‘Lokbharti Prakashan’).
Hindi Translation: ‘In Love with Death’ translated from Satish Modi’s English original by Parijat (‘Harper Hindi’), ‘Uttar Bharat Mein Chamar Aur Dalit Aandolan Ka Itihas’ translated from Ramnarayan S. Rawat’s English original by Kanwal Bharti (‘Radhakrishna’), ‘Khaulta Punjab’ translated from Baldev Singh Dhaliwal’s Punjabi original by Tarsem (‘Jnanpith Vani Prakashan’), ‘Bahattar Meel’ translated from Ashok Vatkar’s Marathi original by Sulabha Kore (‘Radhakrishna’) and ‘Shiuli Ki Gandh aur Anya Kahaniyan’ translated from Taslima Nasreen’s Bangla original by Utpal Banerjee (‘Rajkamal Prakashan’).
Young Adult Literature: ‘A History of South India for Children’ by Pradeep Chakravarthy (‘Hachette’), ‘Art is a Voice’ by Kripa (‘ArtsIntegrated’), ‘Myth, Memory & Folktale of the Wancho Tribe of Arunanchal Pradesh’ by Tara Douglas & Jatwang Wangsa (‘Niyogi Books’), ‘PNK Panicker’s Ghost Stories’ by Suresh Eriyat (‘Tulika Graphix’) and ‘Raman and Chandrasekhar’ by Arundhati Venkatesh (‘Duckbill’).
Children’s Literature: ‘A Roof for Norbu’ by Sujatha Padmanabhan/Labonie Roy (‘Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust’), ‘A Tree in My Stomach’ by Nandita Rao/Charbak Dipta (‘Big Beetle Books’), ‘Cactus Wants a Hug’ by Neil Flory/Simon Yeo (‘Hachette’), ‘What Am I Good At?’ by Rahul Pradhan/Sunaina Coelho (‘Kalpavriksh’) and ‘Will Goondi Come Home?’ by Adithi Rao/Fida Hamid (‘Tulika Publications’).
As per the convention at the VoW Book Awards, the jury for each category largely comprises the previous year’s winners of the corresponding category. The 2025 VBA Jury includes names like noted journalist and author Manoj Mitta in the ‘English Non-Fiction’ category, Smriti Ravindra for ‘English Fiction’, Dr Jaiwanti Dimri for ‘English Non-Fiction Translation’, Uday Prakash for ‘Hindi Fiction’, Dr Suresh Pant for ‘Hindi Non-Fiction’, Subhash Neerav for ‘Hindi Translation’, Shabnam Minwalla for ‘Young Adult Literature’ and Vibha Batra in the ‘Children’s Literature’ category.
The award comprises Rs 1 lakh and a trophy to each winner, as well as a session at the VoW Festival in Dehradun.