Mumbai, October 6, 2026: The longlists for the Godrej Literature Live! Literary Awards 2026 were announced on Tuesday, covering the categories of Fiction, Non-Fiction, Best First Book (Fiction and Non-Fiction), and Business Book of the Year. Winners will be revealed at a ceremony on October 25 during the Godrej Literature Live! Mumbai LitFest at NCPA, Nariman Point.
The awards recognise notable works published over the past year, including both established and debut authors. The longlists feature six titles in each category, selected by separate juries comprising writers, industry leaders, and professionals.
Fiction and non-fiction longlists
Titles on the Fiction longlist include “Railsong: A Novel” by Rahul Bhattacharya (Bloomsbury India), “Real Life” by Amrita Mahale (Penguin Random House India), “The Complex” by Karan Mahajan (HarperCollins Publishers India), “The Elsewhereans” by Jeet Thayil (HarperCollins Publishers India), “The Greatest Game: Being The Further Adventures of Kimball O’Hara” by Stephen Alter (Aleph Book Company), and “The Way Home: Stories” by Shanta Gokhale.
The Non-Fiction longlist comprises “A Sixth of Humanity: Independent India’s Development Odyssey” by Devesh Kapur and Arvind Subramanian (HarperCollins Publishers), “Believer’s Dilemma: Vajpayee and the Hindu Right’s Path to Power, 1977–2018” by Abhishek Choudhary (Pan Macmillan India), “China’s Wars” by Vijay Gokhale, “Scamlands” by Snigdha Poonam (Penguin Random House India), “The Hindi Heartland: A Study” by Ghazala Wahab (Aleph Book Company), and “We, the People of India: Decoding a Nation’s Symbols” by T M Krishna.
Best First Book and business book longlists
For Best First Book – Fiction, the longlist includes “Good Arguments” by Deepika Arwind (Simon & Schuster India), “Lonely People Meet” by Sayantan Ghosh (Bloomsbury India), “The Jasmine Murders: An Uma-Jayan Mystery” by Roopa Unnikrishnan (Aleph Book Company), “The Remnants of Rebellion: A Novel” by Ponnu Elizabeth Mathew (Aleph Book Company), “The Sirens of September” by Zeenat Khan (Penguin Random House India), and “The Tree with Eyes and Other Stories” by Bela Negi (Westland Books / Tranquebar).
The Best First Book – Non-Fiction longlist features “Dapaan: Tales from Kashmir’s Conflict” by Ipsita Chakravarty (Westland Books), “The Ambedkar–Nietzsche Provocations: The Genius of the Chandala and the Gospel of the Superman” by Ankit Kanade (Navayana Publishing), “The Dig: Keeladi and the Politics of India’s Past” by Soumiya Ashok (Hachette India), “The Liver Doctor” by Dr Cyriac Abby Philips (HarperCollins Publishers India), “The Secret Master: Arun Kashalkar and a Journey to the Edge of Music” by Sumana Ramanan (Westland Books/Context), and “Wild Wild East: Exiled Americans, Enslaved Indians and the Systemic Abuse of the H-1B Visa Programme” by Tanul Thakur (Westland Books/Context).
The Business Book of the Year longlist includes “BuildIt: Building Blinkit in an Evolving India” by Albinder Singh Dhindsa (HarperCollins Publishers India), “Made in India: The Story of Desh Bandhu Gupta, Lupin and Indian Pharma” by Manish Sabharwal & Sundeep Khanna (Juggernaut Books), “Running Behind Lakshmi: The Search for Wealth in India’s Stock Market” by Adil Rustomjee (Hachette India), “OTP Please: Online Buyers, Sellers and Gig Workers in South Asia” by Vandana Vasudevan (Penguin Random House India), “Tatyasaheb: The Story of a Bombay Entrepreneur” by Tejaswini Apte-Rahm (Westland Books), and “The Niche Code: Building Big Businesses in Small Markets” by Rajeev Roy (Pan Macmillan India).
Jury members for each category
The Fiction jury comprises Akarsh Khurana (Theatre and Film Director, Artistic Director of Akvarious Productions), Alex Kuruvilla (Former Founder and Chairman Emeritus, Condé Nast India, and MD, MTV Networks, Advisor, Kochi-Muziris Biennale), Iffat Nawaz (Author, Essayist, and former Humanitarian Worker), Lillette Dubey (Actor, Theatre Director, Founder and Artistic Director, The Primetime Theatre Company), and Shireen Mistry (Communications Professional and Associate Festival Director, Godrej Literature Live! The Mumbai Litfest).
For Non-Fiction, the jury includes A. N. Roy (Former Director General of Police, Maharashtra, Former Mumbai Police Commissioner), Maneck Davar (Publisher, Media Entrepreneur, Chairman & Managing Director, Spenta Multimedia), Sharon Coutinho (Solicitor, Corporate Lawyer, Lifecoach), Sonal Shah (Chairperson, Yusuf Meherally Centre, Trustee, Mumbai Khadi & Village Industries Association), and Tina Nagpaul (Filmmaker, Writer and Associate Festival Director, Godrej Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest).
The Business Book jury is made up of Anjali Raina (Executive Director, Harvard Business School India Research Center, and Independent Director), Anita Bhogle (Author, Motivational Speaker, Co-founder Prosearch Consultants), Govind Sankaranarayanan (Financial Services Leader, Entrepreneur, Co-founder and COO, Ecofy), Vivek Hurry (Financial Consultant, Entrepreneur, and Director, Squirrel Enterprises), and Zia Hajeebhoy (Entrepreneur, Leadership Coach, and Director, Aquasail India).
Winners to be announced at Mumbai LitFest
The winners across all categories will be announced on October 25, 2026, at a special ceremony during the Godrej Literature Live! Mumbai LitFest at NCPA, Nariman Point.
Disclaimer: This article is based on a press release provided by the concerned organisation and has been edited for style and clarity with the assistance of AI tools. BusinessFortnight does not verify, endorse, or take responsibility for the claims, figures, or statements made in the original release.
