The 2025 edition of the Ramnath Goenka Sahithya Samman will be awarded in four categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Debut (including both fiction and nonfiction titles), and Lifetime Achievement.
The jury is chaired by author and former diplomat Pavan Varma, with the other members being author Githa Hariharan and economist Sanjeev Sanyal.
The winners, including the Lifetime Achievement award, will be announced at the award ceremony in Delhi on November 28.
The shortlisted books in various categories are:
Nonfiction
The World After Gaza, Pankaj Mishra
Mujib’s Blunders: The Powers and The Plot Behind His Killing, Manash Ghosh
The Remarkable Life of Irawati Karve, Urmilla Deshpande and Thiago Pinto Barbosa
Fallen City: A Double Murder, Political Insanity, and Delhi’s Descent from Grace, Sudeep Chakravarti
Fiction
Tales from the Dawn-Lit Mountains, Subi Taba
Heart Lamp, Banu Mushtaq, translated from the Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi
The Girl with the Seven Lives, Vikas Swarup
Debut
The Fertile Earth, Ruthvika Rao
The Many Lives of Syeda X: The Story of an Unknown Indian, Neha Dixit
Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia, Sam Dalrymple
