The prize was set up to “encourage authors from the subcontinent” in honour of Shakti Bhatt, writer and editor of Bracket Books, who passed away after a brief illness on March 31, 2007, at the age of 26. For authors, this is a very special prize — because it’s the only Indian prize for first books, because it allows fiction and non-fiction equal space, and because you can only be nominated for a first book prize once in your lifetime as a writer.
(More at The Shakti Bhatt Foundation FB Community page.)
2015 shortlist:
In alphabetical order, winner to be announced in November:
Bharath Murthy, The Vanished Path
Indra Das, The Devourers
Saskya Jain, Fire Under Ash
Shahid Siddiqui, The Golden Pigeon
Raghu Karnad, The Farthest Field
Rohini Mohan, The Seasons of Trouble
2014 shortlist:
Winner: The Scatter Here Is Too Great by Bilal Tanweer (Random House India)
A Bad Character by Deepti Kapoor (Hamish Hamilton Penguin India)
The Vanishing Act by Prawin Adhikari (Rupa)
a cool, dark place by Supriya Dravid (Random House India)
The Competent Authority by Shovon Chowdhury (Aleph)
The Smoke Is Rising by Mahesh Rao (Random House India)
2013 shortlist:
Winner: The Wildings by Nilanjana Roy
Boats on Land by Janice Pariat
India Becoming by Akash Kapur
The King’s Harvest by Chetan Raj Shreshta
Foreign by Sonora Jha
a pleasant kind of heavy and other stories by aranyani
2012 shortlist:
Winner: Taj Mahal Foxtrot by Naresh Fernandes (Roli Books)
Tamasha in Bandargaon by Navneet Jagannathan (Tranquebar)
The Purple Line by Priyamvada Purushottam (HarperCollins)
The King in Exile by Sudha Shah (HarperCollins)
The Inexplicable Unhappiness of Ramu Hajjam by Taj Hassan (Hachette)
Calcutta Exile by Bunny Suraiya (HarperCollins)
2011 shortlist:
The Wandering Falcon, Jamil Ahmad
The Collaborator, Mirza Waheed
The Truth About Me, A Revathi
Chinaman, Shehan Karunatilaka
A Free Man, Aman Sethi
RD Burman: The Man, The Music, Anirudha Bhattacharjee & Balaji Vittal
2010 shortlist:
Winner: Following Fish, by Samanth Subramanian
Home Boy, by H M Naqvi
The House on Mall Road, by Mohyna Srinivasan
Songs of Blood and Sword, A Daughter’s Memoir, by Fatima Bhutto
The Wish Maker, by Ali Sethi
Delhi Calm, by Vishwajyoti Ghosh
2009 shortlist:
Winner: If It is Sweet, Mridula Koshy (Westland-Tranquebar)
Arzee the Dwarf, Chandrahas Choudhury (HarperCollins)
Evening is the Whole Day, Preeta Samarasan (HarperCollins)
Hotel at the End of the World, Parismita Singh (Penguin)
Eunuch Park, Palash Krishna Mehrotra (Penguin)
Baulsphere, Mimlu Sen (Random House)
Atlas of Impossible Longing, Anuradha Roy (Picador)
2008 shortlist:
Winner: A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif
In Search of a Future: The Story of Kashmir by David Devadas
Kari by Amruta Patil
A Reluctant Survivor by Sridala Swami
The Music Room by Namita Devidayal
White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
Smoke and Mirrors, An Experience of China by Pallavi Aiyar
nilanjana s roy 
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