Crossword Book Awards, India’s literary platform, recently announced the highly anticipated longlist for its 2025 edition. With the release of this longlist, the awards officially set the stage for a celebration of Indian storytelling, inviting readers and critics alike on a journey to discover the year’s most compelling books.
This year’s longlist spans five key categories – Fiction, Non-fiction, Translations, Children’s Books, and Business & Management reflecting the wide scope of voices, themes, and narratives shaping India’s literary landscape today.
Curated by a distinguished 15-member jury of acclaimed writers, editors, journalists, business leaders, and cultural commentators, the jury longlist for Crossword Book Awards 2025 is a powerful showcase of the depth and diversity of Indian writing. The jury members for this year’s awards include personalities like author and former diplomat Navtej Sarna, managing editor at Outlook Satish Padmanabhan, children’s author Anita Nair, and journalist Mitali Mukherjee, among others.
Speaking about the announcement, Aakash Gupta, CEO of Crossword Bookstores, said, “We are thrilled to unveil the longlist for the Crossword Book Awards 2025, a collection of titles meticulously curated by our esteemed jury. This longlist is a testament to the incredible talent and diverse voices that enrich India’s literary landscape. For every book lover, it’s a definitive guide to the year’s best reading, and we believe these powerful works will spark new conversations and inspire readers across the country.”
The longlist:
Children’s Books
- The Wall Friends Club by Varsha Seshan, illustrated by Denise Antao (HarperCollins Publishers India)
- The School for Bad Girls by Madhurima Vidyarthi (Penguin Random House India)
- Woebegone’s Warehouse of Words by Payal Kapadia (Hachette India)
- 565: The Dramatic Story of Unifying India by Mallika Ravikumar (Hachette India)
- Everything Sucks by Andaleeb Wajid (Speaking Tiger)
- Kushti Kid by Vibha Batra (Scholastic India)
- Ajay of Agumbe and the Signal Snake by Zai Whitaker, illustrated by Rajiv Eipe (Pratham Books)
- The Book of Emperors by Ashwitha Jayakumar, illustrated by Nikhil Gulati (Penguin Random House India)
- The Boy with a Hundred Questions by Nalini Ramachandran, illustrated by Shruti Hemani (HarperCollins Publishers India)
- The Body in the Swimming Pool by Shabnam Minwalla (Speaking Tiger)
Non-fiction
- Golwalkar by Dhirendra K Jha (Simon & Schuster India)
- Gods, Guns, and Missionaries by Manu S Pillai (Penguin Random House India)
- Speaking with Nature by Ramachandra Guha (HarperCollins Publishers India)
- The Lucky Ones by Zara Chowdhary (Westland Books)
- Fallen City by Sudeep Chakravarti (Aleph Book Company)
- Iconoclast by Anand Teltumbde (Penguin Random House India)
- From the King’s Table to Street Food by Pushpesh Pant (Speaking Tiger)
- Everyday Reading by Aakriti Mandhwani (Speaking Tiger)
- Lōal Kashmir by Mehak Jamal (HarperCollins Publishers India)
- The Identity Project by Rahul Bhatia (Westland Books)
Translations
- One and Three Quarters by Shrikant Bojewar, translated from Marathi by Vikrant Pande (Westland Books)
- Unlove Story by Sudipto Pal, translated from Bengali by Arunava Sinha (Seagull Books)
- The Day the Earth Bloomed by Manoj Kuroor, translated from Malayalam by J Devika (Bloomsbury India)
- On the Other Side by Rahman Abbas, translated from Urdu by Riyaz Latif (Penguin Random House India)
- Mudritha by Jissa Jose, translated from Malayalam by Jayashree Kalathil (HarperCollins Publishers India)
- A Temple of No Gods by Manav Kaul, translated from Hindi by Sayari Debnath (Penguin Random House India)
- White Blood by Nanak Singh, translated from Punjabi by Dilraj Singh Suri (Hachette India)
- Our City That Year by Geetanjali Shree, translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell (Penguin Random House India)
- You by M Mukundan, translated from Malayalam by Nandakumar K (Westland Books)
- The Owl, the River and the Valley by Arupa Patangia Kalita, translated from Assamese by Mitra Phukan (Penguin Random House India)
Fiction
- Mother India by Prayaag Akbar (HarperCollins Publishers India)
- The Artful Murders by Feisal Alkazi (Speaking Tiger)
- Great Eastern Hotel by Ruchir Joshi (HarperCollins Publishers India)
- Girls Who Stray by Anisha Lalvani (Bloomsbury India)
- An Unholy Drought by Madhulika Liddle (Speaking Tiger)
- Rising Sons by Kavery Nambisan (Penguin Random House India)
- Across the River by Bhaichand Patel (Speaking Tiger)
- The Fertile Earth by Ruthvika Rao (Penguin Random House India)
- Muses over Mumbai by Murzban F Shroff (Bloomsbury India)
- The Girl with the Seven Lives by Vikas Swarup (Simon & Schuster India)
Business & Management
- Ratan Tata by Thomas Mathew (HarperCollins Publishers India)
- Just a Mercenary? by Duvvuri Subbarao (Penguin Random House India)
- Behold the Leviathan by Saurabh Mukherjea and Nandita Rajhansa (Penguin Random House India)
- The Dirty Dozen by N Sundaresha Subramanian (PanMacmillan India)
- Money, Myths and Mantras by Devina Mehra (Penguin Random House India)
- Sky High by Tarun Shukla (HarperCollins Publishers India)
- Tarmac to Towers by Pratap Padode (Westland Books)
- The Tanishq Story by CK Venkataraman (Juggernaut Publications)
- A Fly on the RBI Wall by Alpana Killawala (Rupa Publications India)
- Amrut, the Great Churn by Sriram Devatha (Westland Books)
Additionally, the Popular Awards shortlist will be announced on 30 September, inviting book lovers nationwide to cast their votes. The jury shortlist will be announced in October and followed by the final awards ceremony in December.
