Shakti Bhatt Prize
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| Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for the first book published an author in India | |
| Country | India |
| Presented by | Shakti Bhatt Foundation |
| Reward | ₹200,000[1] |
| Established | 2007 |
| First award | 2008 |
| Final award | 2025 |
The Shakti Bhatt Prize is a literary award established in 2007 in memory of Indian publisher, Shakti Bhatt. Between 2008 and 2019, it was awarded for first books published in India by an author of any age in the genres of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction and drama. From 2020 onward, the Prize has been awarded in recognition of a writer's body of work, instead of a first book. The last award will be given in 2025 to Zara Chowdhary for her memoir The Lucky Ones.
The Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize was established by an eponymous foundation in memory of Shakti Bhatt, an Indian publisher. Bhatt, the editor of Indian publishing house, Bracket Books, died following an illness in 2007. The Shakti Bhatt Foundation was established in her memory by her husband, Indian poet Jeet Thayil, along other friends and family; the foundation funds and manages the award.[2][3][4]
The prize was first awarded in 2008 to Mohammad Hanif for his novel, A Case of Exploding Mangoes.[5] In 2020, the new Shakti Bhatt Prize was awarded to incarcerated scholars and writers Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha.[6]
In May 2021, the Foundation announced that there would be no prize for 2021, and instead donated the prize money towards relief efforts relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in India.[7] In 2025, it was announced that the award will be discontinued from next year.[8]