Outstanding books shortlisted across Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Translation and Debut categories; winners to be honoured during the inaugural ceremony of KLF Indraprastha
Bhubaneswar: The Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF) has announced the English shortlist for the KLF Book Awards 2026 across five categories—Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Translation, and Debut. The shortlist celebrates exceptional books published in 2025 and highlights some of the finest contemporary voices in English writing and literary translation.
RashmiRanjanParida, Founder and Director of the Kalinga Literary Festival, said:”The KLF Book Awards recognise books that challenge conventions, preserve memory, and open new possibilities for dialogue. The shortlisted works this year reflect the richness and diversity of contemporary writing across genres and represent voices that will continue to shape literary and intellectual conversations. We congratulate all the shortlisted authors and look forward to celebrating their achievements during KLF Indraprastha at the India International Centre, New Delhi, on October 3–4, 2026.”
In the Non-Fiction category, the shortlisted books include VauhiniVara’s Searches, AnandTeltumbde’sThe Cell and the Soul, Snigdha Poonam’s Scamlands, and Arundhati Roy’s Mother Mary Comes to Me.
The Fiction shortlist features JeetThayil’sTheElsewhereans, Ruchir Joshi’s Great Eastern Hotel, Sarnath Banerjee’s Absolute Jafar, and RudraneilSengupta’s The Beast Within.
In the Poetry category, the shortlisted collections are Jennifer Robertson’s Folie à Deux, Mani Rao’s So That You Know, SubhashiniKaligotla’s My Life Closed Twice, and John Kinsella and JeetThayil’sThe City under the City.
The Translation shortlist includes Jissa Jose’s Mudritha, translated from Malayalam by JayasreeKalathil; SannapureddyVenkatarami Reddy’s Tiger Lessons, translated from Telugu by Narasimha Kumar; ManoranjanByapari’s Nowhere People, translated from Bengali by AnchitaGhatak; and BanuMushtaq’s Heart Lamp, translated from Kannada by DeepaBhasthi.
In the Debut category, the shortlisted books are ZahidRafiq’sThe World With Its Mouth Open, Sowmiya Ashok’s The Dig, AranyaPadiyal’s The Map Is Not the Territory, and Sam Dalrymple’s Shattered Lands.
The winners of the KLF Book Awards 2026 will be announced in September 2026 and honoured during the inaugural ceremony of KLF Indraprastha, which will be held on October 3–4, 2026, at the India International Centre, New Delhi. The festival will bring together distinguished authors, publishers, translators, scholars, artists, and literature enthusiasts from across India and beyond to celebrate books, ideas, and cultural dialogue.
