Alka Pande, Shobhaa De, Kunal Basu, Samar Jodha and Anja Riedeberger announced the six shortlisted titles of the Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize 2025 on the first day of the 16th Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival (AKLF).
A list of six book covers voted by the jury comprising author and Member of Parliament, Shashi Tharoor; author, columnist and novelist, Shobhaa De; author and academic, Kunal Basu; museum curator and jury chair, Alka Pande; director, Apeejay Surrendra Group and the creative force behind the Oxford Bookstore chain, Priti Paul and guest jurors, director Information Services South Asia Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Anja Riedeberger and installation artist, mentor, and TED speaker Samar Jodha, were announced at the event.
In its first year, Bena Sareen was awarded the prize for the book, Talking of Justice by late author, Leila Seth, published by Aleph. The following year designer Pinaki De was declared winner for the book Kalkatta authored by Kunal Basu, published by Picador India. The third Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize was awarded to Maithili Doshi Aphale for the book Himalaya authored by Ruskin Bond and Namita Gokhale, published by Speaking Tiger. In the fourth year the prize was awarded to Bonita Vaz Shimray for the book Remnants of a Separation by Aanchal Malhotra published by HarperCollins.Â
The fifth edition prize was handed over to Sneha Pamneja for Tiffin, published by Roli Books. Graphic Designer Gunjan Ahlawat was awarded the award in the sixth edition for the book Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh, published by Hamish Hamilton, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Visual artist, designer and researcher, Ishan Khosla was adjudged the winner of the seventh edition of the prestigious prize. Khosla won the award for designing the cover of Kintsugi by author Anukrti Upadhyay, published by Fourth Estate.
Paramita Brahmachari bagged the eighth Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize for designing the cover of the book titled, Pebble Monkey by Manindra Gupta, published by Jadavpur University Press. The book jacket by Bhavi Mehta for the book The Book Beautiful published by Hachette India, authored by Pradeep Sebastian won the prize in the ninth edition.
Shortlist for the 10th Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize is as follows:
Conversations with Aurangzeb by Charu Nivedita, published by Perennial: an imprint of HarperCollins with the book cover designed by Devangana Dash
Epicurious by Sreelata and Menon, published by Hachette India Children’s Books with the book cover designed by Sharanya Kunnath
Feathers, Fools and Farts: Manipuri Folktales Retold by L Somi Roy and Thangjam Hindustani Devi, published by Puffin: an imprint of Penguin Random House with the cover designed by Samar Bansal
Quarterlife by Devika Rage, published by Fourth Estate: an imprint of HarperCollins with the cover designed by Edmund Spitz
For Now, It Is Night by Hari Krishna Kaul, published by Perennial: an imprint of HarperCollins with the book cover designed by Amit Malhotra
How to Love in Sanskrit by Anusha Rao and Suhas Mahesh, published by HarperCollins Publishers India with the cover designed by Rashmi Gupta
The Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize is an honor for splendor in book design, and an endeavor by a bookstore to perceive and empower the phenomenal work of artists, designers and distributors crosswise over India. The new prize acknowledges the significance of the adjust of illustrations and story, especially in our undeniably visual age, and trusts that a book cover translates and interprets the resulting content in critical ways that add to its definitive achievement. Under the guidance of Priti Paul, director, Apeejay Surrendra Group, Oxford Bookstores has been pushing all boundaries to encourage the publishing industry and celebrate the business of books. Standout cover design is an integral part of the success of a book, designers and illustrators play a vital role in helping a book become emblematic and create recall.
