SOURCE: INDIAN EXPRESS

Books by women authors dominate NIF Prize shortlist

Established in 2018, the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay Book Prize is given for excellence in non-fiction literature about India, published in the previous calendar year by emerging writers of all nationalities.

Works by four women authors figure in the five-book shortlist of the fifth Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize 2022 that recognises and celebrates non-fiction writings on modern and contemporary India.

Accidental Feminism: Gender Parity and Selective Mobility Among India’s Professional Elite by Swethaa S Ballakrishnen, The Chipko Movement: A People’s History by Shekhar Pathak and translated by Manisha Chaudhry, Rukmini S’s Whole Numbers and Half Truths: What Data Can and Cannot Tell Us About Modern India, Midnight’s Borders: A People’s History of Modern India by Suchitra Vijayan and Born a Muslim: Some Truths about Islam in India by Ghazala Wahab are in contention for the Rs 15-lakh prize.

This year’s jury includes political scientist and author Niraja Gopal Jayal (Chair); entrepreneur Manish Sabharwal; historians Srinath Raghavan and Nayanjot Lahiri, former diplomat Navtej Sarna and attorney Rahul Matthan.

The winner will be announced on December 1.