Shakti Bhatt Foundation invites entries for First Book prize

The Shakti Bhatt Foundation has invited entries for the 2019 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize. In its twelfth year, the prize carries a cash award of Rs 2 lakh, and a trophy.

The Foundation has invited entries in the following genres: poetry, fiction, graphic novels, creative non-fiction (travel writing, autobiography, biography and narrative journalism), and drama.

The deadline for publishers and authors to send in first books is July 15, 2019. Books published between June 2018 and June 2019 are eligible. The winner will be announced in November 2019.


Books must be published in India. Publications must be in English or translated into English from an Indian language. Vanity press publications are ineligible, the Foundation said in a press release.

The shortlist judges are poet and author Jeet Thayil and author Arshia Sattar, who runs the Sangam House international writers' residency programme. Three judges (to be announced) will pick the winning entry.

Books (two copies) should be sent to the following address: The Shakti Bhatt Foundation, 011, Maangalya Residences, 6/1, Benson Cross Road, Bangalore 560046.

For further information, mail shaktibhattprize@gmail.com.