These are the six books shortlisted for the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize 2017

From Prayaag Akbar’s dystopian fantasy, Sumana Roy’s memoir-cum-ode to trees to Tejaswini Apte-Rahm’s thrilling short stories, the six shortlisted titles cover a variety of genres.

The Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize announced its 2017 shortlist on Monday. The works of six first-time authors were selected from a longlist of 47 titles by author-translator Arshia Sattar and poet-novelist Jeet Thayil.

The shortlisted entries for the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize 2017 are:

Prayaag Akbar, Leila (Simon & Schuster)

Hirsh Sawhney, South Haven (HarperCollins)

Anuk Arudpragasam, The Story of a Brief Marriage (HarperCollins)

Sumana Roy, How I Became a Tree (Aleph Book Company)

Tripti Lahiri, Maid In India (Aleph Book Company)

Tejaswini Apte-Rahm, These Circuses that Sweep Through the Landscape (Aleph Book Company)

The winner for 2017 will be announced in November by judges Kamila Shamsie, Rohini Mohan and Margaret Mascarenhas.

“This year’s books remind us that in an increasingly brutal and fragmented world, families, communities and societies no longer provide safety nets, that individuals often feel stranded on the brink of an abyss. And yet, it is through literature that we can search for each other, it is in writing that we can create meaning as a bulwark against the tides of untruth that thunder on our shores,” Arshia Sattar was quoted on the Prize’s blog.

The Prize was set up in 2008 to recognise South Asian writing. Previous winners include Nilanjana Roy (The Wildings), Samanth Subramanian (Following Fish), Bilal Tanweer (The Scatter Here Is Too Great). The Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize 2016 was awarded to Akshaya Mukul for his book Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India.